Escaping the Fire
by AnimeAngel4eva
Summary: The gaang got a new companion in the group, the second to last person they would’ve ever thought of accepting, was no one other than the Prince of the Fire Nation. But when things starts to get difficult once again, the gaang learns the hard way of surviv
1. Escaping the Fire Prologue

**Escaping the Fire**

**Summary: ****The gaang got a new companion in the group, the second to last person they would've ever thought of accepting, was no one other than the Prince of the Fire Nation. But when ****things starts**** to get difficult once again, the gaang learns the hard way of surviving the danger ahead of them…Trust. Who can they trust, who can they not? Danger is seeking them around every corner they turn. Can certain companions finally trust one another when their lives are at sake?**

**Prologue:**

"Katara!?" the gaang looked around the temple searching for Katara; however she was nowhere to be seen.

"Sokka, are you sure Katara didn't just go for a walk?" asked Duke who pushed his helmet that was too big for him out of his face and looked around continuously.

"Make Zuko kidnapped-," began Haru as he turned to face the others.

"Don't even say that _Prettyboy_!" snapped the blind earthbender angrily, "Don't always put the blame on Zuko!"

Sokka who came around the corner shaking his head hopelessly replied quickly adding some more information to Toph's response, "She's not here. But Zuko couldn't have kidnapped her, besides he's training Aang firebending at the moment; though even if he tried to kidnap her, she's stronger than him. He fears her temper." Sokka shuddered at the last part, "I think _everyone _is afraid of her temper except for Gran Gran…"

Teo cocked his head to the side; "Is it really _that_ bad?" he looked around once more as Aang and Zuko returned from their training. Aang grinned waving at the others, "Hey guys! What are you doing?"

Sokka looked at Aang and Zuko sharply, "We can't find Katara."

Aang looked instantly worried, "How long has she been gone?" he asked quietly.

"Since this afternoon. It's almost dark; she would've been back by now to make dinner." Replied Sokka as his stomached growled, "She better have not been kidnapped…she better just stomp back here and start making supper!"

Zuko frowned, "You don't know how to cook?"

Sokka shook his head, "Don't ever ask me to cook, I'll burn something, and it'll taste awful."

Toph and Aang made gagging expressions nodding.

Zuko sighed and paused for a second; his eyes trailed over spotting something in the distance, he suddenly felt himself panicking.

"Zuko, are you alright?" asked the young avatar who waved a hand in front of Zuko's face.

Snapping out of panic state he shouted with a surprisingly loud commanding voice, "RUN! FIND A PLACE TO HIDE! QUICKLY! FORGET ABOUT KATARA!"

"What!? Are you stupid? We can't stop-," exclaimed Sokka as Zuko turned the warrior's head to the direction he was previously looking at, "Do you see that? DO YOU SEE THAT!?" he shouted angrily.

"What about it?" Sokka snapped back.

"We're all going to get killed it we're spotted! My father probably sent his strongest men to make sure that he finishes us all up!"

The gaang quickly became silent. They all looked at Aang who paced for a second before nodding, "We will split into two groups. Sokka, Haru and I will be one, Teo, Duke, Toph and Zuko will be the second group."

"How is that equal?" asked Sokka.

Aang spoke up smartly, "It isn't! But, Zuko needs a partner too. Zuko knows how to sneak through places easily-,"

"Twinkletoes; we get it already, let's just get our butts out of here!" shouted Toph as she ran off calling over her shoulder, "Come on guys!"

Little did they know, they were already being watched by dangerous eyes.

A/N: Hi everyone, I'm back! Here is my new Zutara story. I think I am getting better at it. Please review! I LOVE TO HEAR YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT!

Here's Chapter 1!


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

It have been five days since the invasion, it been four days since Zuko encountered them and requested to join their group, and succeeded after a difficult time trying to explain himself regaining their trust.

Well, not everyone's trust. The former prince gained the Avatar's trust, the Water Tribe Warrior's and the Blind Bandit's; partly the newer companions who recently joined the gaang; Teo, Haru and the Duke, it was difficult for him, but he was turning their opinions around rather quickly by proving that he wasn't going to backfire at them.

Then, there was the waterbender; Katara. Zuko's worst enemy.

She was the toughest person to regain trust to, however; he knew this was going to be hard, though he was still worried about the threat that she thrown at him. He swore that he saw a killing look in her eyes, knowing that she would _not_ hold back murdering him, and she was serious.

The morning of the 4th day with the Gaang; Zuko woke up earlier than usual, groaning he sat up straight and looked out the window; he had that dream again, silently, he left his room to find a warm place to meditate.

However, he was not aware that he was been watched every second since he woke up.

Walking around the temple, he yawned looking around the room hoping to find the entrance. He sighed heavily to himself; he always got lost in the Air Temples, they were like mazes!

He suddenly felt like he was being followed; he could only guess the one person who would do so.

Turning around he saw only an empty hall, sighing he leaned against the wall and whispered quietly so that he wouldn't wake the others, "You can come out you know Katara."

Indeed, he was correct, no one other than the powerful waterbender herself, Katara came out from around the pillar leaning against it, "Hm, you are good." She did not pronounce it as the compliment, instead; sarcasm was dripping from her tongue.

Zuko sighed once more; never in his life had he sighed so much.

"I'm just going to meditate." he answered for her, before she had a chance to ask him-, no wait; _demand _him to tell her where he was going.

Katara did not show any emotions, she looked at him almost like Azula; no emotions, but death fire in her eyes.

He nearly shuddered when he comparing Katara's look to Azula's, pushing that aside he spoke up quietly, "Why are you staring at me like that; you are slowly starting to remind me of my sister, Azula!"

That surprised her.

She blinked, and then angrily spat, "HOW DARE-,"

He quickly clamped her mouth and gave her a signal to shut up as he hissed, "Are you trying to wake everyone up!?" he removed his hand quickly before she could do anything nasty such as biting him, which he was sure she was about to do.

Wrong move.

"Don't you ever put your dirty hand on my mouth again!" she hissed, yet this time it was a whisper.

Zuko turned and smacked his head against the wall, she was driving him insane; is she trying to make him regret joining their group, is she just going to torture him every day just like Azula?

Wrapping up his thoughts he walked away faster than he could imagine, and managed to escape those deadly blue eyes.

Katara watched the firebender go, she was surprised that he compared her to Azula, that alone made her furious! Then watching him bash his head against the wall, not severely, but not in any damaging way, made her think. Should she give him a second chance…?

_'Don't even think about it Katara, if you dare to let your guard down you'll regret it.'_

Spinning her heal, she abandoned the firebender and stormed back to her room with thoughts arguing in her head.

Zuko noticed that the waterbender did not follow him outside to his relief. He was starting to get worried that she was going to start stalking him. Though she probably wouldn't, only a creepy girl would do that.

"HEY ZUKO!"

"AH!" Zuko felt back to the ground surprised by the sudden outburst of the airbender, who suddenly appeared out of thin air; the child grinned as he snapped opened his glider and began before Zuko could ask what he was about to do, "I'm going gliding for a bit, could we postpone the course for today?"

"Gliding for a bit? What else are you intending to do that is more important than learning the Firebending basics?" the former prince asked surprised that the avatar wanted to miss firebending today, since every other day he was excited and serious about it.

"I think you will have to worry about that." He grinned cheaply shrugging, "I'm not allowed to tell you. It's a surprise…"

Zuko arched an eyebrow in confusion.

"What kind of surprised?" he did not like the sound of that for an odd reason.

Aang grinned nervously, "Like I just said, can't tell!" With that covered, the avatar launched off into the sky and down the depts of the cliff.

"HEY SNOOZLES?"

Zuko spun around and saw Toph sitting on a rock calling out someone, "YOU SHOULD GET SUGARQUEEN TO COME DOWN HERE AND WATCH!"

_'Sugarqueen?__Snoozles?__ What the hell is going on?'_

Haru, Teo and the Duke arrived quickly as Toph made a stone pillar for the viewers, Sokka climbed over the stone wall grumbling about coming here sooner. Aang suddenly reappeared and stood between Zuko and Toph as the others got to their seats. Katara, however; was nowhere to be seen.

"Aang? Is this the surprise?" the former prince asked nervously, he had a very bad feeling about the upcoming event.

"PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS!" Aang grinned as he shouted out the announcements, "I WOULD LIKE TO PRESENT THE REMATCH-,"

"WAIT! HOLD ON! TIME OUT!" Zuko interrupted looking now very worried expression in his face, "WHAT REMATCH!?"

Toph cracked her knuckles and grinned devilishly, "As I said the first day you joined us, that we would have a rematch and I can kick your ass."

Zuko gulped.

"PLEASE PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR ZUKO!" exclaimed Aang.

No one clapped except for Momo and Appa who were making noises.

_'Wow, so much for support. That girl insists that I get humiliated in front of everyone…she's a devil…'_

"PLEASE PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR THE WORLD'S GREATEST EARTHBENDER! THE BLIND BANDIT!" Aang shouted cheerfully.

The viewers cheered and clapped for Toph.

"KICK HIS ASS TOPH!"

"CRUSH HIM!"

"DESTROY HIM!"

_'Blind Bandit?__ That's her nickname?' _Zuko quickly pushed his thoughts aside and got into a defensive stance.

"Prepare yourself to receive a few broken ribs." The Blind Bandit announced with a devilish grin.

Zuko felt sweat on his forehead already. He knew the only way he could avoid that is by staying in defense, however, the earthbender is damn lucky; she has earth all around her. But she's blind, and she said she see's with her feet. So he needs to be off the ground before she strikes, but then, at points in order to get himself off the ground, he needs to land first.

He seriously wished he had some sort of airbending power right now.

"ALRIGHT ZUZU, let's get the match on the road!" she stomped her foot pulling the earth towards her, making a barrier at her feet, "There, no I won't have to worry about my eyesight." She grinned evilly and did not make another movement.

Zuko waited, however she did not strike.

Taking a risk knowing she was probably waiting for him to make his first move-oh how wrong he was.

Just as he was about to leave the ground, rocks began to fly at him trying to hold him to the ground.

He was not going to make the same mistake as he did with Azula's Dai Lee Agents.

Punching fists of fire at the stones, he shattered them; however they were easily recovered to their original form, making it almost impossible to destroy.

"Damn it…" he hissed as he managed to lift himself into the air again and destroy the stones that were launched at him.

Leaping around doing simple flips and shooting rings of fire at Toph, but careful not to burn her; knowing that'll just make his life worse.

Shooting multiples fireballs, he quickly dodge an incoming attack from behind, just missing him by an inch as he spun into the air, landing beautifully.

"COME ON TOPH!" the others shouted from the sidelines, "HE'S IN THE AIR! SHOOT ROCKS AT HIM!"

Toph simply ignored them.

"Yeah, it's rather obvious; isn't it?" she sneered quietly to herself.

Once he landed on to the ground she made her move she was setting up for her deadly plot.

She carefully tossed a tiny stone into Zuko's boots and smirked cunningly.

Lucky for her, he did not notice until-,

"ACK!" he felt something sharp stab into his foot. Normally, for an Agni Kai, or a little match; he would be barefooted so that he could bend with his feet, however; this was a surprise and he wasn't ready for this unexpected event.

Ignoring the sharp pain in his foot, he leaped into the air and saw an giant boulder flying at him, he quickly summon a large fireball at the boulder that quickly shattered, although, Toph had a second incoming attack from behind and hammered him straight into the back. He grinds his teeth in pain as he fell to the ground rolling. Refusing to look weak, though he already did…sort of.

Trying to catch his breath, he clutched to his stomach as he heard the young air monk call out to Toph, "Make sure you _don't_ kill him! Otherwise, we just lost our only firebending teacher!"

"Roger that Twinkletoes!" Toph replied with an ease, and quickly added before forgetting, "But I am going to break a few ribs."

_'This girl is ruthless.' _Zuko groaned and jumped back into his stance as if he wasn't injured at all.

"How could that guy still fight? I would be probably dead by now." exclaimed Haru from the sidelines, "Where does he get the energy from?"

"It's called not giving up." Replied Sokka as they studied the fight, avoiding and flying leftovers of the shattered stones.

"Eh?" asked the youngest boy of the group pushing his helmet up to see the fight better.

Sokka did not look at them as he answered quietly, "Zuko was never someone who gave up easily, he's very stubborn. Like this kind of fight; Zuko won't back down very easily."

"How is that?" asked Teo.

"A man's pride." Sokka smirked, "I have that too, everyone man does."

"Ooohhh." The trio echoed after one another as they watched the battle.

Zuko was suddenly thrown into a pillar and down to the ground again. Toph was crushing him slowly.

He swore that the Blind Bandit broke 3 ribs aready, maybe his leg too.

Knowing he could not stand up anymore he felt his lungs burning, something was wrong with him, something was…

Toph launched two boulders once more at him to finish him off; but stopped in the middle of her attack crushing it into sand after noticing Zuko wasn't breathing properly.

"Hey Zuko? Are you okay? I think I might've overdone it." She called out to him.

Zuko felt his eyesight burning, his whole body was aching, he felt darkness swallowing him. Suddenly, he fell to the ground flat not moving.

"HEY ZUKO!" the monk and the blind bandit ran over the former prince as the others ran off to find Katara, wherever she was...

He could hear the final voices surrounding him. Knowing that he was going to fall into a deep sleep.

End of Chapter 1

A/N: Hi everyone, oh my gosh, the Western Air Temple rocked! I can't wait for the 28th of December; YTV is hosting a 7 episode Marathon. There will be no episode on Dec. 21st, so we get a treat for waiting a week.

So how do you think of the first chapter? I think it's pretty good. I intend to make a plot with Zuko. He was pretty badly wounded…as you can imagine getting hammered by the World's Greatest Earthbender.

I DO NOT OWN AVATAR! THIS IS A PURELY FANMADE FICTION!

Coming up is chapter 2! That should be up soon. But I haven't started it yet…Well, better get started!


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The sensation of a warm comforting feeling of his ribs faded, the pain the tortured him in the darkness was gone. He never felt so relaxed in his life before.

Opening his eyes slowly, everything was blurry, he had problems with his eyesight. Pain engulfed him again as he blinked. He injured his eyes. Just how? What happened? Where was he?

It was all starting to come back to him.

He joined the avatar, he had to have a rematch against Toph…then, then…he fainted…or something like that. Just where was he now…?

Katara stared down at the half-unconscious firebender before her as she healed. She did _**not**_ appreciate the fact of having to heal Zuko. Yet she _**did**_ appreciate Toph for beating Zuko up. But then again, if Toph didn't beat him up, she would've done so anyways some time soon.

Sadly Toph beat her to it. So she can't beat the poor guy up.

Zuko who winced when she put her hands over his left eye healing it. Luckily the sacred eye didn't get hid; otherwise it would've cost him his eyesight probably.

She felt Zuko stiffen from under her palms that was healing the black eye that was purple, very dark purple. He was hit badly there. Zuko seem to catch his breath not willing to breathe on her hands worried she would probably drown him or something like that.

He was seriously overreacting with Katara's threat. Not to mention; needs to get a grip.

When her hand was off his eye he slowly opened it hoping not to regret it.

Feeling no pain, he breathed out loudly and looked at Katara who was leaving without facing him.

He never really cared about some people ignoring him, but Katara. Katara was the one who he knew best out of the entire group before he even joined the gaang. How? Maybe because she was always the one who took the step between the avatar, defending him; which caused him to encounter her several times, maybe too many…

He knew he had to thank her. She healed pretty much every major injury that he received, ignoring the scabs or scratches.

"Thank you Katara." He called out, not certain if he said it loud enough for her to hear.

She stopped at the door stood there for a moment without looking back at him, "Whatever." Her voice was like acid.

His face sadden and looked aside as she disappeared into the dark halls, falling back into bed he sighed heavily to himself and glanced at his uncle's portrait, "What would you do uncle, in this sort of situation?"

He flipped over onto his stomach and buried his face into his pillow, there got to be a way to apologize to Katara. There must be a way to make her forgive him-no wait. Why should he be forgiven, she has every right to hate him.

He groaned loudly and smacked the pillow into his face, "I seriously should've just been haunting for the avatar in order to join him, life probably would've been so much easier.

There was a knock on his door, removing the pillow from his face he saw the young Blind girl leaning on the doorframe.

"I'm here to apologize."

* * *

Katara stirred the stew, not exactly focusing properly, and wasn't aware that it was close to overflowing. 

Sokka who was luckily passing by went by the door, then suddenly quickly backed up and shouted, "KATARA! THE SOUP IS ABOUT TO OVERFLOW!"

Katara gasped, waking up from her distraction and quickly saved the sew before any mess could happen.

"Thanks Sokka." She gasped and added a pinch of pepper to it as her brother approached her and sniffed the sew, "Smells good as usual, but not as good as Gran-OW!" he yelped and grinned cheaply as she smirked at him after punching his arm playfully.

"You Katara, you seem to act pretty…different since Zuko arrived." Began Sokka slowly who studied her expression that changed suddenly as he mentioned the name of the new companion.

"How could you trust him Sokka? How could any of you trust him?" she almost spat as she was adding the vegetables that she chopped up earlier and dumped them into the pot.

Sokka sighed and pulled up a stool, "You know, I didn't trust him for the first three days, but then I noticed they was something creepy about him."

"You say that all people are creepy." Katara snorted.

"No! I mean, creepy, change, too nice and stuff. But then I was walking by one night and he was talking to a picture, I think it was his uncle…otherwise he would've not said his name. But the sound of it, Iroh escaped…"

"That's good, but what's the point?" she said without a tone this time and continued stirring the stew.

"He was talking about something …about…uh…what was it again…something about I'll try and find you…oh yeah! He said something about searching for someone. I didn't get the entire thing, I was too lazy to listen." He yawned.

"Why are you telling me this?" she demanded as she placed a hand on her hip looking at her brother with a frown.

Sokka sighed heavily and began, "What I am saying, I am taking your advice, you told me that not all firebenders could be bad, as Iroh for example, and Toph's advice about us being blind because of the past. I think we should try to give him another chance."

Katara grew furious. She could not believe her ears, her brother. _Sokka_, in the name of the god, the one who always had hatred towards the Fire Nation! WAS STICKING UP FOR THE PATHETIC PRINCE WHO HUNTED THEM DOWN SINCE SHE BUSTED THE AVATAR OUT OF A BLOCK OF ICE!?

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU SOKKA!?" The hot water from the soup reacted dangerously with her temper, "WHAT ABOUT DAD!? HE IS CAPTURED, AND YOU EXPECT TO BREAK HIM OUT WITH A FIREBENDER!? NOT ONLY A FIREBENDER, BUT PRINCE OF THE FIRE NATION!? LIKE YOU SAID; HE MAKES YOU FEEL ALL SORRY FOR HIM AND LET YOUR GUARD DOWN AND STRIKES!" Katara lashed out a whip of the stew at Sokka who quickly ducked using the wooden stool as a shield that was sliced into two. Quickly he fled.

He made a terrible mistake.

* * *

The sound of siblings debating echoed almost through the entire temple. Haru, Teo and the Duke just quickly fled to their rooms before they could hear anymore of the fight, or get any closer to it. 

Aang who was just gliding recently approached the kitchen grinning, "Hi Katara-,"

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT!?" she exploded whipping at Aang with daggers of hot water.

"NEVER MIND!" he nearly yelled as he dashed off past Sokka who was also fleeing from Katara.

* * *

"And that is why Katara doesn't trust-," 

"TOPH!" shouted Sokka and Aang as they slammed the door behind them and fell to the floor.

Zuko looked at them uncertain why they were shaking.

"Toph, please knock Katara out. Right now!" begged Sokka as Aang looked at him as if he was crazy, "WHAT? Knock her out, had you lost your mind!?"

Toph grinned cheaply and turned to Zuko, "Would you like to see Katara?"

"If those guys are shaking, I think its best that I don't!" he replied quickly, "I just recovered from your beat up tournament."

"Hm…" she thought for a second before replying, "Nah, let's go Zuzu."

"WHAT?!" he exclaimed, "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?"

"Toph don't even think about putting Zuko there. She'll kill him in one shot." Replied Sokka, looking at Aang who nodded, before adding, "And I can't afford my only firebending teacher to get beaten up again. No offense Zuko."

"I think I have no offense, that girl is dangerous. She's almost a clone of Azula with that source of power." He shuddered at the thought of Katara and Azula working together dominating the world.

Toph shrugged and pushed the firebender out of the room and earthbended him to the kitchen alone.

"You'll pay for this you blind brat!" Zuko shouted angrily as he was dragged off to the kitchen.

"No problem!" she called back with a snort.

Clenching his teeth he found himself right at the door, capable moving around now, smirking he walked away from the kitchen hoping to go back to his room, but instead, he bashed into a stone wall. "Stupid brat…" he hissed as he spun around discovering that he was cornered with a deadly furious waterbender.

Taking a deep breath, he peeked his head into the kitchen cautiously and saw Katara who looked calm pouring the stew into eight bowls before turning around to face the door.

He face shadowed with darkness, and glowed with killer eyes, "What are you doing here…what do you want!?" her voice was cold and deadly.

The prince swallowed nervously, "Uh…uh…Toph…trapped me…here…she said…I should be a…uh…" he pulled his collar.

Katara eyed him and walked towards him hastily and poked her head into the halls and noticed the rock walls.

Growling to herself she flashed a death glare at the prince who gulped again, trying to figure out what to say, "Uh…um…I…um…uh…"

"SPIT IT!" she yelled.

"I HAVE A REQUEST!" he burst out almost shaking; this girl is scaring the life out of him.

Katara closed her mouth and crossed her arms across her chest.

"What is that?" she asked with a sneer and eyed him dangerously.

He tried to think up something quick, oh he wished he was wise like his uncle. Uncle would probably escape these sort of situations within a blink of an eye.

"Uh…umm…I was umm…maybe…"

"What?" she demanded angrily.

"We could…uh…talk this over. Maybe start this entire relationship-,"

Katara almost fell back, as she stuttered, "Hold on…whoa, what relationship?" she was now confused, but still angry.

"We start the relationship over, you know…meet the real me…and forget about the stupid pathetic, banished confused useless bossy prince I was!" he mumbled out quickly.

"You admit that you were all that?" she snorted with a smirk.

A smirk? Thank god for the change.

"Well, I regret who I was, who I've been, I was blind about the damages, and destruction I created, the chaos and everything…sending the assassin, siding with Azula back in Ba Sin Se, betraying my uncle; not joining you guys sooner." He began spitting out every single regret he could name.

"Right, since when did you decide to act all, 'I have changed' prince." She questioned, her frown was back.

Frown is back. Not good.

He took a deep breath, "When I first returned home."

"Oh? What is the story this time, how happy your daddy was? Oh what about your mother? Open arms too? That must've been touching." She said this harshly with sarcasm.

That was a mistake she made. A big, no, wait…_huge_ mistake.

Before she could react, she was suddenly pinned to a wall with a furious firebender with a threatening expression on his face, "Don't you _ever_ mention my mother again."

Katara decided to continue her harsh comment, "What? She wasn't happy? Or she was…not there?" Katara made a small sarcastic gasped for effect, "Or does your mother decide that you weren't worth it anymore and moved on to Azula as your father, or did they just switch…hm…"

Suddenly there was a punch, inches from her face; she flinched turning her head to dodge the attack.

Zuko's face was suddenly very close to her, she could feel his hot breath on her face, he growled angrily, "My mother…My mother, was the only one who cared for me…other than uncle. But then she was banished. BANISHED for saving my life from my father, who was going to kill me when I was a young boy! MY MOTHER SACRIFICED HER LIFE FOR MINE! SHE MAY EVEN BE DEAD! I HAVE NO CLUE WHERE SHE IS! HOW I WISH SHE WAS Home for me, with open arms…" Katara noticed his voice was starting to quiver, maybe starting to tremble…

What surprised her most when continued, tears slid down his shaking face, "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I REGRET NOT BE TAKEN WITH HER! I WAS ABANDONED…" he shouted out, pouring out the painful emotions that burned his heart. His fist that was in the wall fell down to his side. He released her from his grip and fled the room with sheded tears, breaking a hole through the stone wall and ran, no willing to face anyone else that night.

Back in the kitchen Katara, who was still on the floor from shock tried to review what just happened.

"Zuko cried?" she asked herself alive, "Did he actually mean-," she stop in midsentence and growled, "HE'S DOING IT AGAIN! DO NOT FEEL SORRY FROM HIM! HE'S JUST TRYING TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MY KINDNESS!" she stomped over to the meals and brought them to the table as she shouted with a loud voice, "DINNER IS READY!"

"Who cares about Zuko. He's just a heartless monster who's trying to make me do the same mistake all over again." She muttered angrily.

When nobody came, Katara shouted once more, except much louder than the first time; which was extremely loud, "HEY I SAID DINNER IS READY! DON'T COMPLAIN IF YOUR MEAL IS COLD BY THE TIME YOU GET DOWN HERE!"

The first person who walked in rather too quickly was Sokka; who swiftly snatched his soup and fled.

"Humph." The waterbender waited for another person to come around. However nobody appeared other than her brother who had constantly snuck into the kitchen retrieving everyone's meals.

Growling to herself, she stirred her soup, "What a bunch of chickens."

That night, she ate alone in silence.

* * *

Sokka arrived back into his room and slammed the door behind him, locking it and shoving chairs and desk in front of it and sighed, "I think it's safe now." 

"You think?" demanded Toph, "The entire temple is calm. Which means; Katara is calm."

"Speaking of Katara, had you seen Zuko?" asked Aang as Sokka shook his head, "I saw a busted wall Toph created to trap him like a mouse, however I think he busted himself out before Katara could beat the life out of him."

"You know what's weird guys." Started Haru, who recently joined them, not too long after Zuko was shoved into the kitchen, "Why are we eating in Zuko's room?"

Everyone looked at each other and remained silent.

"Yeah, that is strange." Whispered Teo, "It's too quiet."

"As if this is a good thing, or bad thing." Asked The Duke.

"Bad thing." Replied Sokka.

"I think it's a good thing." Stated Toph as she picked her ear.

"How is that?" asked Aang as he eyed the blind girl.

"Katara finally closed her mouth." Smirked the Blind Bandit, with two thumbs up, "That's all we need."

There was an awkward moment of silent.

"OKAY SERIOUSLY! I AM FREAKING OUT BY THE SILENCE!" exploded Sokka, with a dramatic effect.

The room was suddenly silent again.

"OKAY! SOMEONE, PLEASE START A CONVERSATION OR SOMETHING!" burst out the Water Tribe warrior, who was waving his arms in the air.

"Uh…Okay." Began Haru, "How's your firebending Aang?"

"Going okay I guess."

Silence engulfed them once again.

"Okay this isn't working."

* * *

The night was clear and the moon was full shining brightly in the dark sky of the summer evening. The breeze caressed the former prince's face as the cool tearstains made him shiver. 

He sat beside the bison. Appa sat beside Zuko, studying him carefully as the prince's stomach growled.

"What are you looking at?" the prince muttered out as the bison moaned and walked away.

The prince rested his head on his knees and stared out at the stars, he felt hopeless right now. For an odd reason, he felt he wasn't welcomed in the group as he hoped to feel. It must be the waterbender; she is the only one who always threatens him some sort of death note.

Turning his head to the side, he heard the bison return with a watermelon in his mouth and dropped it before Zuko.

The firebender stared at the bison for a real long time before breaking a small smile, "Thanks buddy." He picked up the watermelon and headed over to the damaged fountain that the Combustion Man nearly destroyed.

He rinsed the giant fruit before slicing it with his hand, and split it in half, tossing one half to Appa, who happily ate it before licking Zuko as his thanks.

Zuko shot a grin at the bison before munching into the watermelon hungrily.

He stopped suddenly when a thought occurred to him, he paused before pushing it aside and continued eating his snack.

When he finished, he was still hungry. Maybe during the middle of the night when everyone is asleep, he'll sneak down and make himself something; he was not going to take a risk what the waterbender could've dumped into his stew separately from the others.

He shuddered.

Yawning, he patted the bison before heading off back into the temple, clearly avoiding Katara; as much as possible.

He reached his room and saw his door open; his things were nowhere to be seen. Sighing heavily he closed his door and threw himself on to his bed before he drifted into unconsciousness.

* * *

**A/N: So what do you think of chapter 2? You SO were going to believe that Katara was going to be all like, "Oh my god, he cried! He must be human!"**

**I decided to twist it so that it won't be all fluffy any time soon.**

**Yeah, I know; I made Katara talk pretty harsh to Zuko. A little too dark for her isn't it?**

**PS: THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! I REALLY ENJOY READING THEM! THANKS GUYS!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Zuko slept like an angel until…

WHAP!

"OW!" he hissed out trying to be quiet, but failed miserably. He glanced up and saw the furious waterbender standing before him.

"What do you want…" he grumbled as he stuffed his head under his pillow.

She tore the pillow his head and snarled angrily, "You are sleeping in _my_ bedroom!"

"WHAT!?" Zuko fell out of bed and rubbed his head groaning, "No wonder I didn't see any of my things." He stood up tiredly, however began to wobble.

Katara suddenly lost her fury and stared at the unstable firebender, "Zuko? Are you feeling okay?"

Zuko looked at her in surprise, '_Wow that was a fast mood swing._'

"I feel fine." He hissed out before stumbling to a dresser for support, _'What the heck it wrong with me?'_

He suddenly felt dizzy, an unusual yet familiar feeling.

"Zuko, you are pale, are you sure-,"

"What time is it?" he asked out of random, he wasn't thinking very clearly.

"It's around 2am; I fell asleep in the kitchen." She started softly, she placed her hand on his forehead and gasped, "Zuko, got are running a fever, how could you say you are feeling fine!?"

"Oh no…" he murmured to himself, he had a bad feeling about this.

"Zuko, can you hear me?" she asked as she supported him to stand straight, though he was loosing his balance off his feet.

"Yeah." He replied quietly as he felt darkness closing in on him.

His world began to tumble; he was just about to fall when Katara thankfully caught him and murmured softly, "Zuko, can you make it to your bedroom?"

He shook his head unconsciously, as she replied, "That is what I thought so too." She helped him to the bed and made him lie down, "Zuko, you need to take off your shirt, other wise-,"

He removed his shirt weakly before collapsing back into the bed groaning, "I thought I would only have to deal with this once; not _twice_!"

"What were you suffering beforehand?" she asked trying to distract herself from his handsome muscular chest.

He was about to answer when he suddenly fell unconscious.

"Zuko? Zuko!? ZUKO!?" Katara left his side and hurried to find some water, however; there was no more water in her flask. She would have to hurry to the fountain.

Not wanting to wake anyone up, she swiftly left the temple and hurried towards the fountain, desperately for water.

Waterbending swiftly to get the water into her flask, she was unaware of another presence until she heard a sound.

Spinning around with the waterwhip, she only slashed thin air, though the mysterious stranger got behind her faster than she could imagine, and knocked her out in one hit, before tying her up and dragging her away into the darkness of the early morning.

* * *

Toph bolted awake as she felt another person's presence in the Air Temple's territory, but quickly disappeared before she could react.

Aang came busting into her room as she shouted, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"

"There is something wrong with Zuko!" exclaimed the air monk as he grabbed Toph's wrist and dragged her out of bed.

Sokka had recently woke up after hearing the commotion from Aang, who told him to find Katara.

The warrior returned to Katara's room inspecting the ill firebender as Toph and Aang entered the room, "I think Katara already figured she had to heal Zuko and went to get water. That's probably why he is in her room." He figured as he turned from Zuko to Toph and Aang, "He has a very high fever, I don't know if this is normal." He shot a quick glance out of the window, "But it is strange isn't it." He said suddenly, "

"Katara should've been back by now."

"The only water supply comes from the water fountain, other than that I don't know where else water could be located." Aang murmured as he glanced at Zuko worriedly as the former prince regained consciousness for a split second before falling unconscious again saying only one word, "Water…"

"What did he say?" asked Sokka, who obviously didn't hear the prince completely, as Toph replied, "He needs water before he gets dehydrated. He's asking for water." She turned to the door leaving the room as Aang looked at her questioningly, "What are you doing Toph?"

"I'm waking the others." She replied with a smirk on her face.

"Okay, now I am glad you woke me up Aang." Sokka muttered as he plugged his ears when instead Toph stomped her foot and screams of surprise echoed the Temple.

"OW!"

She smirked as she clapped her hands together and stretched, "Ah. That felt good."

She turned to Sokka with a serious expression on her face, "Go and get water." Turning to Aang she gave him an order, "Tell the others to come here and I'll give the orders."

"How come you get to order us around?"

Toph placed her hands on her hips, "Well Katara isn't here, and I learned recently that the girls have the power to order people around." She smirked, "Now get to work."

Aang sprinted out of the room as Sokka hurried out to the fountain. Toph turned back to Zuko who just woke up, bolting awake, breathing heavily.

"The others went to get water." Toph filled in for him, Zuko looked at her, "Where's Katara?"

Toph shrugged as Zuko fell back into his pillow and croaked, "I had a vision."

Toph arched and eyebrow as she crossed her arms across her chest, when Zuko was about to explain, he was interrupted by the new companions who woken up with angry expressions, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU TOPH!?"

"Duke, go and get some towels, Teo help Sokka bring some water, Haru; you help Aang find Katara, wherever she went to." She replied oddly with a calm voice before slamming the door in their faces.

Turning back to Zuko she grinned, "Carry on."

Staring at her for a brief moment, he turned his head facing the ceiling, "I had a vision about-,"

"Here's the water!" Sokka cut in as he poured some into a cup and handed it to Zuko, qho literally snatched it a gulped it down handing it back to Sokka who was about to pour some more from the bucket, however the prince beat him to it, by grabbing the bucket and drank from it.

"You are going to be sick." Sokka pointed out as Zuko shook his head, "I'm feeling dehydrated, I need water. Could I have some more?" the firebender handed back the bucket to the water tribe warrior, who stared at him as if he was crazy, but shrugged it off as he left the room.

"As I was trying to say, I was a having a vision." He paused to make sure no one was going to interrupt him, however as he was about to continue Aang entered the room cutting off Zuko, "I can't find her." He paused noticing only know Zuko's annoyed expression on his face, "Oh, was I interrupting something?" he rubbed the back of his head chuckling softly, "Sorry about that."

Zuko's annoyed expression faded as he began once again, "I suppose it would be important for you to hear too." He paused for a split second before continuing, "I thought I was having an Illness I suffered from a few months ago, however; it was different."

"What was your vision, what did you see Zuko?" Aang asked, with a concern tone in his voice as the former prince looked out the window, "I think only my uncle would know. I don't understand it." He turned back to the two preteens, "I was in this dark cave." He stopped while thinking over the dream, trying to remember it, "Then it burst on fire. I was surrounded by flames." He ran his fingers through his hair as he muttered, "There was this figure, it was huge, bigger than, or maybe slightly larger-no wait, it was certainly larger than your bison." He frowned, "I don't get it, I felt like energy was being sucked out of me…or maybe I was gaining energy, I don't know. It's really complicated."

Zuko noticed that the Avatar was frowning, Toph was frowning too; he studied the way the air monk paced the room, "What's wrong? You know something about it?"

"No I don't." replied Aang, "But I know someone who would."

Toph answered the opposite, "I think I understand; I probably heard of it during my studies."

The two looked at the blind girl as she pulled up a chair and began explaining her idea, "I believe it's a spirit."

"A spirit?" questioned Aang, "Why would you think it's a spirit?"

"Why not ask Roku?" she replied, "I think it's a spirit, perhaps warning him about the future. You say that war is created by the Fire Nation, so we should expect a lot of fire surrounding us; anyways the point is, it could be a spiritual vision, but the other part was the first thing you mentioned," she stopped for a brief second glancing at Zuko, ",you said you were in a cave."

"Yes." He replied nodding.

"I think I have an idea, I think I read it in the library back in the desert." Aang murmured rubbing his head, "Though I doubt it."

"What library?" asked Zuko as Aang began explaining, "We met with this…guy…I forget his name; anyways, we discovered an underground library that was owned by the most knowledgeable spirit you could imagine, he has all of these books-,"

"Get to the point Twinkletoes."

"Anyways, while the others were scrolling around, I was reading about this spirit. It was an image, but it never said its name." he paused, "That is where we learned about the Fire Nation's darkest day." He finished as he leaned against the wall.

"So in the end, you don't even have a clue about my vision, or maybe a dream." Scowled Zuko as he crossed his legs and rested his elbows on his knees, "Can you still activate the Avatar State?"

"What do you mean?" asked Aang as he arched and eyebrow, "Why would you ask that?"

"Azula struck you when you were in your own control of the avatar state; shouldn't there be some sort of disconnection?" he asked slowly, with an uncertain expression exposed on his face.

"I honestly don't know. I haven't tried." The airbender paused, "But I still can contact Avatar Roku. He showed me his past; he showed me to give second chances; that is why you are my firebending teacher."

Zuko got up off the bed slowly, as he walked towards the door, "Come Aang, I think it's about time you learn something that'll shock you." He gestured to Toph, "You can come too."

Aang made a gesture with his foot for Toph since she couldn't 'see' Zuko's gesture to her; nodding she followed.

Zuko used the walls as his support, until he got to his room and picked up one of his bags opening it carefully.

"What's in there?" asked Aang as he stared at the bag.

"You'll see." The firebender replied as he took out a few items as the air monk picked them up and inspected them, "Who's this?"

Zuko looked at him and shot him a sad smile as he took back his treasure, "That is my mother."

Aang and Toph glanced at him, "Is she at home?"

Zuko's expression shadowed, "No. She left when was young." His expression changed into a furious mood, "My father banished her for sparring my life when he was going to kill me."

"Okay, I told you guys the first time; he got a seriously messed up family!" exclaimed Toph as she crossed her arms across her chest, "Why would your father want to kill you anyways?"

"He tried to kill me not once, but twice." Zuko slipped the portrait back into the bag as he took out another item that was wrapped in the finest silk of the Fire Nation.

"How come?" asked Aang with a fearful expression on his young innocent face.

"Today is not the day for me to tell the story. Maybe another day…but that day may be a long time." Zuko replied quietly as he held out an object to the Avatar, "I want you to look at this. Tell me if you recognize this."

Aang's eyes widen and flickered from object back to Zuko's face numerous of times before gasping, "WE ARE RELATED!?"

"WHAT?!" exploded Toph echoing the room with laughter, "Oh gosh! This is priceless-YOU-Prince of the Fire Nation-RELATED-To Aang's past Avatar Spirit!"

Zuko shrugged, "Aang is connection to my Great Grand Father, but Spiritual Connection. I'm connected with Roku's blood running through my veins from my mother's side."

"Wait! Hold on! Your mother, was the grand-daughter of Avatar Roku?" exclaimed the air monk as he waved his arms in the air, "How is that possible!? Roku wasn't royalty."

"He was a noble though." Answered Zuko, "My great grandfather on my father's side; Fire Lord Souzin, was best friends with Avatar Roku; however they did not know that Roku-,"

"Was the Avatar at the time? AH! Now I remember! Roku showed me his past before; he was showing me how the war came to be; he might've been trying to prepare me for your encounter."

"Oh, so that what you were doing that entire evening." Snorted Toph as she sat down again glancing down at her feet for a brief moment before eyeing Zuko, "Does your dad know about Avatar Roku being your Great Grand Father on your mother's side."

"I didn't know until my uncle managed to show me this secret room with Souzin's scrolls that were his journals. I learned about his relationship with the Avatar; and how he wanted the Fire Nation to expand their knowledge." He paused, "If he does know; he obviously hiding that from me. But if he doesn't know, maybe my mother was hiding that fact from him. My uncle knows a lot more about the family's past than my father I believe." He paused, "Maybe Roku could give me my answer of my dream." He turned to the Air Monk, "Could you try to make contact with him?"

"I could give it a shot. Maybe I can send a message to him to try and contact you. You do have his blood in your veins, so there should be some sort of connection for him to contact you." Offered Aang as he sat down and sat into a mediating position.

Sokka came back with some more water and paused staring at Aang, "What the hell is he trying to do when it's two in the morning!?" walking around the avatar; he handed Zuko a cup of water before continuing, "I'm not getting anymore water; Duke went off to help the others find Katara; she will be able to heal you in no time." He paused, "If she even accepts having to heal you that is."

"She was about to help me before I fainted." Zuko frowned, "It has been a while since that happened; I think."

"Um, hello; I am sitting right here! I can hear you! I can't concentrate when I hear you people talking!" Aang exploded and snatched the artifact, "Almost forgot to use this." He grinned cheaply as Zuko scowled, "What are you supposed to use it for?"

"Connecting with Roku." Answered Aang as he closed his eyes and the room went oddly silent.

Everyone went silent; Sokka had to clench his teeth from creating a single sound.

They stood there for about 5 minutes when Toph broke the silence, "Is he in the Spirit World yet?"

Aang frowned, "It's not working." He stared down at the artifact, "Maybe this doesn't work. It has to be at the locations Roku directs me, or some sort of spiritual place; such as the Oasis up North." The airbender sighed and got to his feet while yawning and handed Zuko the treasure back before Sokka stretched with a yawn, "We should get some more rest, we still have plenty of time to sleep."

"What about the others?"

"They went back to bed." Snorted the Blind Bandit as she made her way to the door, "Sugar Queen probably went off for a night walk, and used the excuse of getting water to sneak out."

Zuko glanced at the blind earthbender, "How can you tell?" his answer was Toph shooting a rock at his face, "How could you forget? Why do you think I was so pissed off and scared when you burned my feet?"

"Scared?" Aang looked at Toph, "You were scared?!"

Toph ignored it and left the room yawning loudly, then disappeared into the dark hallway.

Aang who turned to Zuko and stared down at the object began with an uncertain tone in his voice, "After that vision…Do you think you could sleep?"

Zuko breathed out heavily, "Probably not." Falling back into his pillow he turned his gaze out the window, "Make sure you meet me at our regular training place by sunrise."

Aang spun around and exclaimed almost too loudly, "Are you serious? You barely-,"

Zuko cut him off quickly before the air monk could continue, "Trust me; when I was hunting you down, I barely slept." Turning to face the wall he called over his shoulder, "Make sure you get your rest."

Aang nodded and left the room closing the door behind him, unaware that the prince got out of bed and snatched his swords, knowing he wasn't going to sleep; he might as well use up the time for it.

* * *

End of Chapter 3

A/N: Well, how was the chapter? Katara suddenly had concern towards Zuko when he fainted. Something had happened to Katara. What are these visions Zuko is having?

Find Out in the Next Chapter.

Chapter 4

COMING SOON!

I DO NOT OWN AVATAR!


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The morning was cloudy, the breeze was strong; swords sliced the air with fire erupting from them. The former prince; who could not sleep, was focusing on the fire; he was determined to get stronger.

"Zuko?"

The firebender stopped firebending and swung his swords back into their sheath, he glanced at the air monk before him, "Good you came on time for once." So far every lesson they had; Aang came about 15 to 30 minutes late.

The avatar yawned, "Were you up since the incident?" he sat down and crossed his legs before eyeing Zuko, "You don't look a bit tired."

Zuko chuckled as he placed his swords aside and sat down across from Aang and mirrored him into a meditating position, "I told you earlier this morning, when I was hunting you; I barely slept."

Closing his eyes he breathed in slowly then out, but for a brief second he opened one eye and saw Aang staring at his swords, "Aang. You are supposed to be meditating-,"

"I saw you training with those swords; I didn't think you would use them other than when you are the Blue Spirit."

"You won't see it again any time soon." Zuko replied as he opened both eyes and glanced at the swords, when Aang press, "Why not? I found it pretty cool."

"If you mean the swords, I will be using them again; but the Blue Spirit, is not something you'll come across again." His eyes flickered over to Aang sharply, "Did you tell your friends?"

"I don't think I mentioned the Blue Spirit; I said that you, Prince Zuko; came and rescued me." He grinned, "Unless they read the Bounty Posters, that'll be their only chance to figure it out probably."

Zuko nodded, "Now stop stalling and start meditating."

Aang grinned as he closed his eyes and began his meditating; Zuko looked at his swords once more before starting to meditate as well.

* * *

Sokka walked into the kitchen with a big grin on his face, "What's for breakfast today Katara?" he took his seat and rubbed his two hands together, licking his lips and looked down at the table. 

"…" he blinked at the clean table with nothing on it, pulling himself to lean back in his chair he took a deep breath before out bursting very loudly,

"AH! THIS HAS TO BE A NIGHTMARE! KATARA!? KATARA!? YOU HAVEN'T MADE BREAKFAST YET! I'M HUNGRY!"

He waited a brief second knowing Katara would've rushed down and shot him a waterwhip; he swiftly ducked under the table, but only to see Katara did not show up.

'_That's weird, Katara would've came down and smacked me already…_' he crawled out from under the table, "Katara?" he cautiously approached the door, '_Maybe she is trying to surprise me this time and attack me when I walk out the door…_' he carefully pressed himself against the wall and slid over to the doorframe and carefully peeked.

"What are you doing Snoozles?"

"AH!" Sokka leaped off his feet and pressed himself against the doorframe, "Toph don't scare me like that; I thought you might've been Katara."

"When had Katara ever called you Snoozles?" Toph asked as she headed into the kitchen and took her seat, "Where's Katara; I'm hungry."

"I'm asking the same question."

"I think I already heard your out burst." She grumbled as she placed two feet on the table and crossed them, "Maybe she isn't awake yet."

As the two of them waited; every 10 or 15 minuets another companion would join them and ask the same questions.

Sokka shook his head and stormed out of the room, "We've been waiting around for about 45 minutes; I'm going to wake up Katara."

"You do that! Or else I'll do my earthbending again!" Toph called out after Sokka as the other companions shuddered at the memory.

"Where are Aang and Zuko?" asked the Duke as Toph turned her head over to the child, "They are training." Her stomach growled, "God damn it Katara; what are you doing?"

The Duke began to cry, "I'm hungry!"

"Don't worry Duke! Katara will be down in a few seconds."

"IT'S _THE_ DUKE!" the child shouted angrily and continued crying from hunger.

Sokka returned to the kitchen, the companions saw an expression they've never seen before, however Toph felt his vibrations of reaction but did not answer instead she frowned.

"Katara isn't in her room." He turned to leave and stopped when he heard the Duke crying, turning to the child he shot him a soft smile, "I have some spare apples in my bag." He eyed the others, "I only have one left; if you want food you better go out searching."

Everyone except Toph sprinted out of the room, she eyed Sokka before speaking up, "Where would Katara be in the morning other than cooking?"

"Watching Aang firebend?" he offered.

"No, I would've felt her vibrations." Her frown grew darker, "She's not on the Temple's Territory at all." Getting on to her feet she walked out of the room, "Feed the Duke; and then help me out search for Katara." She disappeared into the halls.

The Duke tugged Sokka's shirt and whispered, "Katara didn't leave us right?"

"WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY!? MY SISTER WOULD NEVER EVER LEAVE US!" he picked up the child and placed him on his shoulders, "Come on, I'm going to give you my special apple, then we are going to help Toph search for Katara."

Haru and the others were called over by Toph for a meeting, they weren't sure what; but they were worried.

"Alright, everyone is here!" she called out.

Sokka just arrived on time with the Duke munching on an apple hungrily with a gleeful smile on his young face.

The others looked at the apple hungrily, "Had anyone found Katara?"

"That is why we are here." Began Sokka as he stood up with Toph, "Katara is not anywhere on the Temple's territory. She either went to town to gather some food-but I don't remember seeing a town anywhere around here; so that is off the options list, or she was really angry and she stormed off into the woods, or we have no clue where she is."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Don't ask." Toph muttered as she order, "Haru, Teo, the Duke; you three will look East of the Temple, Sokka you got the north; I'll go South. NOBODY GOES TO THE WEST! That is where Aang and Zuko are training, go there; and risk yourself being burned." She grinned, "Dismissed."

The trio group made their way towards their direction only to be interrupted by Toph shouting, "DO YOU KNOW WHICH WAYS ARE EAST AND WEST!? YOU ARE GOING WEST! EAST IS THE OTHER WAY!"

"Oh right…Sorry." The mumbled as the scurried to the East.

Sokka already made his way to the North, all was left was Toph who was slowly making her way to the South.

* * *

Several Hours Later…

"Katara!?" the gaang looked around the temple searching for Katara; however she was nowhere to be seen.

"Sokka, are you sure Katara didn't just go for a walk?" asked Duke who pushed his helmet that was too big for him out of his face and looked around continuously.

"Make Zuko kidnapped-," began Haru as he turned to face the others.

"Don't even say that _Prettyboy_!" snapped the blind earthbender angrily, "Don't always put the blame on Zuko!"

Sokka who came around the corner shaking his head hopelessly replied quickly adding some more information to Toph's response, "She's not here. But Zuko couldn't have kidnapped her, besides he's training Aang firebending at the moment; though even if he tried to kidnap her, she's stronger than him. He fears her temper." Sokka shuddered at the last part, "I think _everyone _is afraid of her temper except for Gran Gran…"

Teo cocked his head to the side; "Is it really _that_ bad?" he looked around once more as Aang and Zuko returned from their training. Aang grinned waving at the others, "Hey guys! What are you doing?"

Sokka looked at Aang and Zuko sharply, "We can't find Katara."

Aang looked instantly worried, "How long has she been gone?" he asked quietly.

"Since this afternoon. It's almost dark; she would've been back by now to make dinner." Replied Sokka as his stomached growled, "She better have not been kidnapped…she better just stomp back here and start making supper!"

Zuko frowned, "You don't know how to cook?"

Sokka shook his head, "Don't ever ask me to cook, I'll burn something, and it'll taste awful."

Toph and Aang made gagging expressions nodding.

Zuko sighed and paused for a second; his eyes trailed over spotting something in the distance, he suddenly felt himself panicking.

"Zuko, are you alright?" asked the young avatar who waved a hand in front of Zuko's face.

Snapping out of panic state he shouted with a surprisingly loud commanding voice, "RUN! FIND A PLACE TO HIDE! QUICKLY! FORGET ABOUT KATARA!"

"What!? Are you stupid? We can't stop-," exclaimed Sokka as Zuko turned the warrior's head to the direction he was previously looking at, "Do you see that? DO YOU SEE THAT!?" he shouted angrily.

"What about it?" Sokka snapped back.

"We're all going to get killed it we're spotted! My father probably sent his strongest men to make sure that he finishes us all up!"

The gaang quickly became silent. They all looked at Aang who paced for a second before nodding, "We will split into two groups. Sokka, Haru and I will be one, Teo, Duke, Toph and Zuko will be the second group."

"How is that equal?" asked Sokka.

Aang spoke up smartly, "It isn't! But, Zuko needs a partner too. Zuko knows how to sneak through places easily-,"

"Twinkletoes; we get it already, let's just get our butts out of here!" shouted Toph as she ran off calling over her shoulder, "Come on guys!"

Little did they know, they were already being watched by dangerous eyes.

* * *

Toph waited until Zuko led them to a hiding place before announcing, "There is someone already here." 

"Is there more than one person?" asked Teo as he wheeled behind the Earthbender.

"No, just one." She paused, "What were you looking at Zuko?" he turned to her surprised, "The Fire Nation's Air Force." He turned to eye the halls, "Why?"

"Curious." She replied simply and turned to Teo and the Duke, "What are you two going to do?"

"I think we are supposed to hide." answered Teo, "Aang said Zuko was good at hiding, so he is probably going to hide us somewhere."

"We are going to hide underground." He answered; turning to Toph he eyed her seriously; even though knowing she couldn't see his face, "Make sure we have some sort of breathing hole."

"I'll make multiple thin ones." She replied and asked, "Where would you like the location?" she quickly frowned when a thought occurred to her, "Could it possibly be Azula? She has Dai Lee agents."

"I don't think they know how to feel vibrations." He answered and looked around, "I want you to make multiple tunnels, we will be able to gather everyone's things so that we can make it look like this place is abandoned."

"Good thinking Zuko." Grinned the Duke as Toph nodded and earthbended the ground making them all sink it before closing it again.

* * *

The others ran through the temple, Aang looked around and grinned, "Appa, I got just the place to hide you!" 

The bison groaned.

Sokka and Haru looked at him, "Where?"

Aang smirked evilly, "The Echo Chamber."

The two other men looked at each other shrugging while following the speedy airbender to the echo chamber.

* * *

"Feel anyone above us?" asked Zuko as he sat down on a stone bench as Toph nodded, "Multiple men. You were probably right." 

"Can they hear us?" asked Teo as Toph shook her head, "No. I made an oxygen provider at the edge of the cliff, with really tiny holes, but we'll get enough air in here; don't worry."

Zuko nodded as he held his palm on fire for the light of their makeshift cave.

"I must admit; what you created is very impressive." He shot a smirk at the earthbender, "You must be the Best Earthbender in the World."

"I _am_ the Greatest Earthbender in the World." She grinned, "I discovered Earthbender's secondary ability, Metal Bending."

Teo looked at her, "Are you going to teach Haru how to do that?"

"Probably not. He can't even defend himself from one shot of mine." She eyed him, "No offense, but he needs proper training."

"And who taught you?"

"Myself." She smirked, "That is what makes me the greatest earthbender, I learnt on my own."

Zuko's eyes widen, "Impressive."

Toph placed her hand on the wall and pressed her ear against it…

"Send the troops around, if you find him; bring him forth and I'll kill him; dismissed."

Toph looked over at Zuko, "Azula is here."

She noticed Zuko's vibration grew tense, "Damn it." He hissed, as Teo and the Duke watched him warily, "And we still haven't-," he stopped his sentence with a hint occurred to him, "Toph, you said there was someone watching us?"

"Before, not anymore."

"I think I know what happened to Katara."

"What?"

"She is being held hostage." He eyed them all, "She's been kidnapped."

A groaning sound echoed the small tunnel, everyone glanced at one another and eyed Toph, "Sorry, I'm hungry too."

* * *

_"Send the troops around, if you find him; bring him forth and I'll kill him; dismissed."_

Aang and the others pressed themselves against the walls of the echo chamber, hiding themselves in the darkness.

Nobody spoke, knowing that it'll only echo their voices over to their enemy.

Sokka waited till the voices faded before motioning to Aang, who barely saw what Sokka was trying to tell him as he approached him without a sound, "What?" he mouthed, no voice came out.

"Create an underground tunnel for us!" Sokka mouthed back as he described what he was saying with his hands, trying to give an image to what he was saying.

"What?" Aang mouthed as he shrugged hopelessly.

Sokka waved his hand trying to make it look like earthbending.

Aang and Haru stared at him as if he was crazy.

Sokka sighed quietly and sat down.

This was going to be harder than he thought.

His stomach growled in response.

* * *

End of Chapter 4 

A/N: OMG Thank you ALL for your awesome Reviews! OMG! I am so happy! It makes me want to right more and more!

The next chapter will be longer I promise; that is when things get interesting.

So the gaang split up into two groups.

They all are suffering a major problem.

Hunger. Everyone is hungry.

Everyone is screwed.

Katara been Kidnapped!

Azula had arrived! What trouble did she bring this time!

With their stomachs hungry, will they be able to take on Azula? Or will they have to Surrender? Or will they even be able to Escape?

Find Out in the Next Chapter!

Chapter 5


	6. Chapter 5

Previously on Escaping the Fire…

Katara

_The mysterious stranger got behind her faster than she could imagine, and knocked her out in one hit, before tying her up and dragging her away into the darkness of the early morning._

_**Katara is missing…**_

…

**Zuko**

"_**I was a having a vision."**_

"_I was in this dark cave." _

"Then it burst on fire. I was surrounded by flames…"

"There was this figure, it was huge, bigger than, or maybe slightly larger-no wait, it was certainly larger than your bison."

"I don't get it, I felt like energy was being sucked out of me…or maybe I was gaining energy, I don't know. It's really complicated." 

…

**Sokka**

"_Katara isn't in her room."_

"_**We can't find Katara."**_

…

**Zuko**

"_She is being held hostage." _

"_**She's been kidnapped."**_

…

**The Gaang**

"_I'm hungry!"_

_**The group must face their enemy while suffering from hunger.**_

…

"_**Send the troops around, if you find him; bring him forth and I'll kill him; dismissed."**_

…

**Chapter 5**

The sound of growling stomachs echoed the small cave. The companions clutched to their stomachs trying to push aside the thought of food.

Zuko stood up with clenched his teeth, "Damn it." He spun around to Toph, "I'm going out."

The others looked at him as if he was insane, "What!? Are you crazy?" Teo frowned angrily, "There are probably more than a 100 soldiers out there!" he eyed Zuko dangerously, "You won't stand a chance."

"Well I'm not sitting around waiting for ourselves to get sick from the lack of food. I'm going to steal some food from the ships."

"How?" asked the Duke as he wiped away his tears and sniffed, "It must be heavily guarded."

Zuko smirked, "I like that kind of stuff." His smirk grew into a smile, "I'll get enough food for everyone." He turned to Toph, "Toph; could you go and find Aang and the others? Try to get them to join us; they are probably suffering from hunger as well." He stomach growled, "If we don't eat soon we'll get weak and we won't stand a chance against Azula."

"We won't have a chance to save Katara." Whispered Teo as the Duke sniffed again and hugged Zuko's leg, "Bring us water too!"

The former prince pushed the helmet up for the child and smiled, "Don't worry; I'll return with some water and food." Turning to the dark tunnel he looked over his shoulder, "Stay with Toph; she is the only person who can see in the darkness. Do not move; unless she tells you to."

"You heard him; I'm the leader. So; I am going to search for Aang and the others; you guys can come; or you can stay here. Okay?"

"We'll stay." Replied Teo as he patted his wheelchair, "I don't think it'll be that easy for me to move about with all of these rocks."

"Very well; I'll see you soon." Zuko dashed out through the cave with a fireball bouncing in his palm.

'_Maybe I should search the dungeon too incase they do have Katara as their hostage._' He thought to himself as he sprinted to the exit and punched a big enough whole for his body to fit through.

Slipping out of the tunnel; he crept among the temple with his back pressed against the wall scanning every angle he turned.

It was dark out; full moon, but the light was hidden from the dark clouds; soft drizzles of rain fell from the sky. His hands on his swords, he crept among the dangerous ground.

He leapt into a hole that was in a wall as soldiers marched by him unaware that he was there.

Slipping out of the whole he dashed silently over to the air force that landed near the temple. It was heavily guarded.

"Princess."

He ducked behind a pillar and watched a soldier dash over towards his sister and bow down, "We found the temple abandoned."

Azula spun around with a furious glare; Zuko's eyes widen, as his sister turned to the guard, her face was covered in bruises and scratches. Her eyes were glowing darkly, she let out a furious yell and slashed a sharp attack of flames at the soldier who was hit and screamed out in pain.

The other soldiers hurried over to help when the princess sharply glared at them all sending them all a death note just by the look in her eyes, "You will find my brother, and bring him to me; and I'll kill him. HE WILL DIE TONIGHT!" Flames erupted from Azula's hands like twisters, blue fire waved around her dangerously, all of the soldiers backed away in fear.

He watched his sister storm back into the Royal Air Force ship, shooting down three soldiers as she did so.

Eyeing the other ships he slipped around the guards and hurried into one of the soldier's ship, he looked around hoping to find a vent; successfully he opened one vent and slipped inside just on time as four guards who were patrolling the corridor walked by him. One stopped and looked around before hurrying after the others.

Crawling through the vents he looked through each one, hoping to find the kitchen.

Not luck. He'll have to do it the dangerous way.

Removing the vent's cover; he pinned himself against the ceiling and waited for the next patrols to walk by.

It took about 10 minutes before the second group arrived and passed. Dropping from the ceiling he ran through the halls and withdrew his swords.

"Hey! We are out of salt! Go next door to get some more salt!"

"Eh, why not you do it?"

"I'm cooking the stew! Don't tell me that!"

Zuko peaked into the kitchen only to see that there were two chefs arguing, sighing heavily; he face palmed himself before sneaking inside and closed the door behind him locking it. The two chefs were to busy yapping to notice Zuko sneaking behind them both.

"Well don't give me that kind of-,"

"KIND OF WHAT!?" shouted the second chef, he looked at the other chef, "WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT!?"

The first chef who was shaking uncontrollably pointed behind the second chef, "It's…it's…"

"WHAT!?" turning around the second chef, yelped; before either of them had a chance to make an alert, Zuko swiftly knocked them out.

"Sorry men." He quickly opened the cupboards and took out multiple bowls and poured the stew into the bowls before stacking them up like he had done with Jet back on the ferry when he was on his way to Ba Sin Se.

Grabbed a bag, he carefully placed the stew inside, and shoved a bunch of bread that was on the counter. Grabbing some water flasks, he filled them up with water from the Water Barrel then tossed them into the sack as well.

When he finished his job; he slipped through the door and closed it behind him quietly; and dashed through the halls.

"HEY YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Zuko looked over his shoulder only see that there were three soldiers shooting fireballs at him.

"Damn it…" he hissed, cursing to himself as he sprinted dodging the attacks, he made out of the ship and sprinted outside; though luck wasn't with him there. About thirty soldiers surrounded him.

Looking around; his eyes flickered around looking for an opening, they flashed over to the sighting of his sister with a deadly glare on her face, "Zuzu, you traitor." She hissed out with acid dripping from her tongue, "After everything I did; you were still not happy!?" her hands went on fair.

A figure flashed from above the temple.

His lips curled into a smirk, but instantly hid it before Azula could notice.

"How dare you attack father. How dare you join the Avatar!" as she approached him, the fire's flame increased its sized and flared dangerously, she stopped when she was across her brother, keeping a good distance between them.

"You left Mai. I thought you cared?" she smirked, "She was heart broken."

"I had to do it Azula." He replied, "I was not happy." He looked at her straight in the eye, "I wasn't me; and it's my destiny, to end this war and help restore the era of peace."

"So you ditched everything you worked towards for the last three years; just like that!?" she snapped angrily, her lips curled into a beautiful; yet deadly smirk, "However, that makes things much easier for me, I'll get the throne." There was a glint in her eye for a brief second, "With you dead, with uncle dead, with the Avatar dead-, I can do whatever I like! I can continue to create horror amongst the world! Torture! War! Destructions! Her laughter was toxic, it sounded as if darkness was swallowing the light.

The rain began to pour down harder. Thunder roared through the air, the lightning cackled amongst the skies.

"This is where your life will end! This is where I'll end your destiny, FOR GOOD!" she screamed out in fury as she created the ball of electricity and snarled, "This will be your last breath!"

Shooting out from her fingertips; the electric static crackled and shot straight towards Zuko.

The firebender just stood there motionless, he just watched the electric ball charge towards him. No fear, no emotion was expressed. All he was doing was just standing there waiting…

A chunk of earth exploded from the group and blocked the lightning and threw it's shattered pieces back at it's foe.

Azula growled and erupted a large amount of fire and created an explosion from the collision.

A dust screen was created; no one was able to see anything. Zuko used his chance to flee and sneak back into the tunnel before anyone catches sight of him.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS BROTHER!" shrieked the princess as a lightning bolt was shot into the air.

* * *

Zuko crawled through the tunnel with the bag resting on his shoulder; and held a fireball opened for some light.

"Hey Zuko!"

Aang approached him with a fireball bouncing on his palm, "I'm firebending!"

Zuko smiled at him, "Good job, you got the first part of the basics." Aang flared out the fire and took the bag from Zuko and yelped, "What do you have in here!?"

"Food." He replied as they made their way over to the others.

"We got all of our supplies, including our belongings." Aang began as he looked over at Zuko, "We have your stuff too; but Sokka couldn't help but snoop into your bag; you don't mind do you?"

Zuko grunted to himself while rubbings his forehead, "Somehow I am not surprised."

"Um, Zuko?" the air monk began quietly, "Did you check out-,"

"I don't think Azula has her."

Aang looked up at Zuko with a surprised expression on his face, "Why not?"

"Azula would've said something. I know she would've; she likes to manipulate people, if she had Katara she would've been like-," he changed his voice to impersonate Azula's, "You should surrender Avatar, you wouldn't want me to do something unspeakably horrible to your darling friend; now would you?" he changed his tone back to his voice, "Or something like that."

Aang laughed quietly, "That was priceless."

Zuko smiled back at the avatar as they entered another tunnel that had light provided by a firepit in the middle. Making the fireball in his hand disappear, the others looked at him, "Did you bring food?"

Aang grinned widely, "He sure did!"

The group cheered with joy as Aang and Zuko handed out the stew and water flasks, and bits of bread.

Helping themselves they all ate by the fire.

"What would've we done without you Zuko?" cried Sokka as he joyfully ate his meal.

"Thanks Zuko!" laughed the Duke as he bite into his bread, "And you brought us water too!"

Zuko couldn't stop smiling, his good deed made him feel good.

If only Katara was to see him now.

* * *

"Alright guys, we are going to save the rest. Who knows how long it'll be before we find Katara." Announced Sokka as he took the empty bowls and stacked him on top one another before placing them back into the bag.

"We should get some rest." Concluded Aang, "We all have a rough day." His face sadden, "I wonder if Katara is okay?" he whispered.

Sokka's face left from the joy and joined Aang's mournful expression. Soon everyone had the sorrow face.

"She was not kidnapped by Azula." Announced Toph, as she laid down and placed her head on her bag, "I would've sensed something by now." She added sadly.

The cave became quiet. Zuko sat against the wall and stared into the flames of the fire.

If Katara wasn't kidnapped by Azula…

Then what happened to her?

* * *

_He stood in darkness.  
Flames erupted suddenly surrounding him.  
A figure stood before him; a large figure.  
A path was formed before him.  
The ground began to shatter.  
Replaced by magma; bubbling below his feet.  
The figure approached him, shaking the entire cave.  
A voice called to him…_

Zuko bolted up awake breathing heavily, he was covered in sweat. Groaning quietly he pressed his head on to his knees and clenched his teeth, '_What is this feeling? Am I having visions or dreams?_'

Throwing his head back into his bag he rested his arm on his forehead, "God Agni, what am I seeing?"

* * *

**End of Chapter 5**

A/N: I know it was a chep shot with Azula; I just had to put her into the picture now; you'll understand as the story continues.

I must say; if we flash back to the COD (Crossroad of Destiny); Azula had the Dai Lee make a wall without an order to block Zuko's attack.

So I made the same thing happen with Zuko when she intended to shock him with the lightning.

Okay so now we can carry on discussing about the Chapter...

Zuko encounters Azula; he gets the gang some food, and he takes a guess that Katara wasn't kidnapped by Azula.

His visions are growing stronger; he can't tell if either he is dreaming or seeing things.

The gang had grown a greater bond with Zuko.

Aang is getting the hand of firebending.

Katara's Location Is Still a Mystery.

**THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR REVIEWS! IT IS MAKING ME VERY HAPPY! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! YOU ALL ROCK!**

Chapter 6

Will Be Up Soon…


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

There was nothing but Darkness the waterbender could see, she couldn't open her eyes because of blindfold. She was having a difficult time breathing with a gag in her mouth; she had a painful time with the metal chains that tied her hands behind her back and her ankles together; which were digging into her skin.

But that wasn't her only problem.

She was not being fed, or given water.

She felt lightheaded; she was starving just after one day and a half; well that was what she predicted.

Her mouth was dry, she was desperate for water.  
And to add another problem on to her list; she was freezing cold.

However whoever kidnapped her had thrown her into some sort of cold metal cell. Since she couldn't move; she couldn't exactly exam her grounding.

Yes that was another thing; she didn't get to see her captor's face yet.

She highly doubts it was Zuko…or was it?  
He wouldn't be this cruel? Of course not!

So she must be captured by Azula.  
But Azula would've been trying to draw information out or manipulating her.

Combustion Man?  
He's dead.

Some other enemy that she and her friends haven't came across yet?  
That's a possibility.

Well she knew one thing; it was dead quiet in her cell. Way too quiet. There wasn't even a rat that had made a sound; or so she thought.

'Oh shit…' a thought occurred to her that made her instantly regret being captured, _'They can't cook! Where are they going to get a meal that is already cooked for them!?'_

She struggled against the chains desperately, but failed miserably. Those chains held her down _too _well.

After her long day in the cell, she finally released some tears, and wept silently; worried for her friends.

* * *

Everyone slept soundly; even Zuko managed to sleep after tossing and turning during the night.  
The former prince was first to wake; after all, Firebenders rises with the Sun.  
Slipping out of the small cavern block, he crept his way around the tunnels, he looked around for the nearest light. He was surprised with himself not getting lost in this maze.  
Walking over to the light; he crawled out of the hole and when out for a look out.

He walked around the temple. It was quiet, but not deadly quiet.  
Walking into his room cautiously, he peeked through the window and frowned at the sight before him.

Azula and her army were no longer there.  
However there was a massage mess scattered around the grounds that they _were_ on.

Sprinting out of his room and outside of the temple; he stood in a defensive stance, scanning his ground cautiously.

He noticed that even the creatures of the temple came out; which meant one thing.  
Azula was gone.

He sighed.

"So they are gone aren't they Sparky?"

Zuko spun around and saw the smirking earthbender.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Let's just say I formed a little plot while everyone was asleep last night." She looked at her nails that she couldn't see as Zuko studied her face, "What did you do last night?"

"It has to do with Azula." She smirked even wider when she said it.

"What did you do?" he wasn't so sure if he wanted to know.

"Let's just say…I kind of destroyed their entire base." She grinned evilly, "I metalbended their ships into crumple bits." She rubbed her hands together, "Oh man, you should've heard them screaming!"

Zuko unconsciously backed up a bit, "You didn't kill anyone…did you?" he muttered nervously.

Toph blinked then burst out laughing, "Oh man! You actually thought I would do that to a bunch of wimps!?"

"My sister isn't a wimp." Corrected the firebender who had his arms crossed across his chest, "Tell me exactly what you did."

"Well, it started out like this." She frowned, "Azula indeed brought her Dai Lee Agents, they were scamming around the temple. However; because they aren't blind and they aren't being taught like Twinkletoes, they don't know how to feel their groundings. Otherwise they would've found us without a problem.

"So for my own fun being; I snuck up to the Dai Lee and knocked them out, then dragged them over to the camp where the soldiers were patrolling…" she paused for dramatic effect, "Anyways; they were startled that a mere child like me took out those two Dai Lee Agents; so when they were _about _to set an alarm off; I did it happily for them." Her grin she expressed looked like some sort of deadly devil looking at its victim.

Zuko shuddered, "What did you do?"  
Scanning the mess he felt his heart nearly stop.

"TELL ME WHAT EXACTLY YOU DID!?" he exploded.

"Well, as I was saying; the guards were about to set off the alarm; but I did it happily for them." She paused again for dramatic effect; Zuko's eyebrow was twitching, "Please stop doing that."

"Why? Where is the drama then?" she snorted before continuing, "Anyways; as you can see…" she waved her hand among the mess, "this was my doing. I earthbended massage chunks of boulders and hammered them into the ships; oh and I did hit some of the soldiers; some were knocked out in one blow-, how do they even get into the army? Jeez,-and so your sister came out to see the commotion.

"She got really pissed off and tried to take me down. However I kept on hiding underground and popping out and every angle she couldn't see and shoot stuff at her." She shrugged, "She really lacks patience.

"As I was saying; because she was being out smartened by a mere blind girl; she obviously wasn't happy." She frowned, "So she shot lightning at me."

Zuko gasped, "How did you see it?"

"I didn't. I heard a strange sound and didn't bother taking a chance and hid myself underground." She replied, "However; Azula was a step ahead; she shot at the earth. She ordered all of her soldiers to set the ground on fire." She pointed to the scorched marks, "I was able to stop the fire before it reached the temple." She grinned, "You are surprised that I even survived this don't you?"

"No, it's just really hard to believe." Muttered Zuko as he sat down on a boulder.

"Actually it isn't." she replied, "I'm the world's best earthbender; don't deny it."

"Whatever."

"What? You don't believe me?"

"This sounds like a whole lie."

"Why?" she questioned him.

"Well, wouldn't we have woken up from all of the racket?"

"Hm, that's true." She shrugged.

"Tell me Toph; are you telling the truth?"

Toph grinned, "Nope."

"Really?" Zuko muttered, he blinked, "WHAT!? YOU MEAN THE ENTIRE TIME YOU WERE TALKING; YOU WERE SPILLING A LIE!?"

"Part of it was true." She frowned, "I did knock out the Dai Lee Agents." She crossed her arms across her chest, "Azula left not much longer when she learned that their air force was damaged."

"So you did the damage." Questioned Zuko; who was now studying Toph, very carefully as she nodded, "I metalbended in order to damage their ship."

"Did you go inside, or did you do it outside?"

"Outside; I went underneath the airships and did quite some damage." She grinned, "Had to choke back my laughter when I was watching; or could I say listening to Azula's fury."

"So they left to get their damaged repaired."

"Yes, I know, but it'll give us time to sneak out of here." She replied, "We should head out and search for Katara. We don't even have clue where she is located."

Zuko nodded.

"I'll go and wake the others and tell them to get packing, I want you to go looking around for some clues; maybe we missed something, we didn't get to search the entire temple because of Azula's sudden attack." Toph called from over her shoulder as she made her way to their underground cave.

The former prince walked among the temple's ground. He tried to think where Katara might've ran off to.

Wait, that night; they didn't refill their water flasks, they were going to do it in the morning.  
_'The water fountain!' _he thought as he dashed over the half destroyed fountain.

The water was still running, the water was still crystal clear.

Circling the fountain, he prayed to find some clues.  
He stopped when he felt dizzy after going around in circles looking at the ground seven times.

Cupping his hands into the water, he splashed the cool water at his face. Opening his eyes, he spotted a glint of light from the sunlight's reflection.

A thin ribbon waved from the vibrations of the water, he dove his hand into the found pulled out the object.

"You got to be kidding me." He groaned and held it in his palm, "What is with me finding this stupid necklace anyways!?"

In his hands was Katara's necklace; that meant the world to her.

"Well, better keep it safe; maybe this will chill her out from murdering me." He mused out loud and slipped the necklace into his pocket securely, just before Aang and the others could see it.

"So Toph drove Azula away." Grinned Aang as he approached Zuko, who suddenly noticed something he didn't before and dashed past them.

"Jeez, what is wrong with him?" demanded Sokka as the other all laid their eyes on him.

Zuko was on his knees brushes the bushes away. He found a dagger with a scroll pinned into it.

"Hey! What did you find!?" shouted Aang as he and the others hurried over to Zuko; as he swiftly opened the scroll after removing the dagger, reading the scroll he furrowed his eyebrows, "If you want your friend back, both the Prince and the Avatar must turn themselves in alone."

Sokka looked at Zuko, "Why are you included?"

"Someone my father sent." He growled, "He wants Aang and I dead." His fist balled up, "And Katara is the bait." Inspecting the knife, no clues were found; so he angrily tossed it over the cliff, "DAMN IT!"

The others looked at him as Aang read over the scroll, "It doesn't say where we have to turn ourselves in." he frowned, "So much for rescuing Katara."

"Wait; you intended to turn yourself in for Katara?" scowled the firebender, "You are the world's last hope!?"

"Aang, think about it; Katara can take care of herself, she would be furious if you turn yourself in." murmured Sokka as he placed a hand on the airbender's shoulder, "She would never forgive you."

Aang looked at Sokka with wide eyes, "Katara is willing to sacrifice herself so that the world could have peace?"

Toph smacked the airbender's head, "Hey Twinkletoes! Haven't you noticed that she would sacrifice everything just so that everyone else in the world can live in a better place? Katara _always_ has been like that!" she turned to Sokka, "Right Snoozles?"

Zuko looked at the others who haven't said anything yet, "Why haven't you guys said anything yet?"

The Duke looked up at him, "Pipsqueak told me that I should believe in Katara."

'_Who's Pipsqueak?_' Zuko wondered as he turned to Haru and Teo, they replied about the same, however Haru said more, "-, but Katara inspired my people to make sacrifices. I know Katara can take care of herself; and this is what she would want. No matter how much I want to go and find her too."

Zuko stared at Haru for a long time before nodding, he turned to Sokka; who now had a map laid out before him, everyone gathered around studying the map.

"I think we should hide in the forest; Azula's Air Force won't be able to see us; so we have a natural invisibility. But on the other hand, she could send out soldiers scouting."

"Or Yuan Archers." Muttered Zuko remembering his last encounter where he got hit while saving the Avatar, he unconsciously rubbed his forehead, "But if we do run into the archers; Toph and Haru should make a shield over us. Air, Water, and Fire are useless against the archers."

"How is that?" Haru asked looking at Zuko square in the eye, Zuko frowned, "The arrows are specially made for these professional archers. The Yuan Archers are the Best Archers of the Fire Nation. If they miss a bull's eye; they are out. They be masters; perfectionist."

"So once they have a target; they don't miss?"

"Oh no, they don't miss at all." Aang replied with a mutter, "I have no intentions of running across them again."

"Unfortunately; my father will have those men sent out to kill us. If we aren't careful; we could be shot by a poisonous arrow."

"How do they make toxic arrows?" asked Teo with interest.

"They put venom on the arrow's blade." answered Zuko as he pointed to the map, "We should take the forest's route as Sokka said; but we should stop by that village in disguises to restock our supplies." He looked up at Sokka who was waving his arms in the air, "And where could we get money?"

"Scamming?" offered Toph with a smirk, "I wouldn't mind doing it again."

"You scammed?" Zuko stared at the earthbender whose smirk faded, "I did; but it got us nearly killed." She left out the fact that Katara warned them.

"Well I-," began Aang who was interrupted by Zuko, "I can buy us the supplies."

Everyone looked at him, "Where is your money?"

Zuko smirked, "When I returned to the palace; I was give fortune and luxury." He eyed the Water Tribe warrior, "And of course before I left, I brought quite a bit of gold…"

"GOLD!?" the group exclaimed staring at his with wide eyes.

"It'll do us good for a long time." The firebender looked at the Avatar, "I suspected that I should bring some money…since I thought my uncle would've been with me…and he really loves tea." His smirk faded into a sad expression, "However he escaped on his own without my help."

There was a moment of silence when Sokka decided to break it, "Alright, let's do what we planned."

Nodding, everyone headed back to get their things, while Aang and Sokka got Appa ready for the trip.

"Hey Aang. Now that you think of it…"

"What is it Sokka?" the avatar looked at his loyal friend who was tightening the saddle on Appa, "We have another companion in the group. How is Appa going to carry everyone?"

Aang nodded, "Teo said he was coming up with an idea. Other than that' because Katara isn't here, Zuko is just replacing her spot." His face sadden for a brief second, "But that still makes the average weight that Appa carried us all the way here." He paused, "So I decided I'll fly a bit too. When I get tired I'll take a bit of a break; so that Appa will only have to carry five people."

"Well, actually; I recently helped Teo build a glider so that he can fly while Appa is flying too. So that makes four people, just like before." He answered, "But then when Katara comes back; I'll be five again."

Aang grinned, "It'll be fun to fly with Teo again!" he paused, "Wait, how did-,"

"It's a foldable glider, pretty smart. We tested it out. So far it is working pretty well." Sokka smirked, "I am a true inventor." His smirk faded into a sad smile, "Just like my dad…" he trailed off.

"Alright! Let's go!" shouted the Duke as Toph earthbended the two of them on to Appa's saddle.

The others climbed on from Appa's tail; Zuko leapt on to the saddle from the solid ground and smiled, "This should be interesting."

"Oh trust me. You'll be scared at first." Scowled the Blind Bandit as she clutched to the saddle's edge.

Zuko shrugged.

Aang and Teo grinned at each other, "Alright!"

Teo turned on his motor as Aang pushed him off the cliff.

"What the hell!?" exclaimed Zuko as he heard Sokka shout, "YIP! YIP!"

"Huh?" he turned to Sokka just as they took off into the air with Aang beside them, laughing with Teo who flew on the other side of Appa.

"Whoa…" Zuko clutched to the saddle's edge, "Well; this is certainly faster than an air balloon."

"Is that how you got here?" asked Sokka looking over his shoulder; holding the reins.

Zuko nodded.

"HEY GUYS LET'S SEE WHO CAN MAKE THE FUNNIEST CLOUD!" shouted Aang as he and Teo flew off into the clouds making a bunch of faces.

"Hey look! It's Aang!" the Duke pointed at Teo's creation.

"I'm with Stupid?" Zuko read as Aang glared at Teo, "Hey, I thought we can a truce?"

He laughed, "It's just a joke!" he flew over and erased it and replaced it with, 'I'm with Genius!'

Everyone laughed; Zuko studied what the Avatar was creating.

Aang created a cloud of Appa.

Appa groaned in response; everyone laughed.

Zuko smiled to himself and looked behind them watching the Air Temple fade away, '_You are right uncle, this must be my destiny. I feel no regrets…I'm being me…I've never felt so alive...Thank you uncle...I wish you were here to see me…_'

* * *

The fire from the fireplace waved dangerously. The princess stared into the flames thinking over encounter she had with her brother.

"_So you ditched everything you worked towards for the last three years; just like that!?"_

"_I had to do it Azula." He replied, "I was not happy." He looked at her straight in the eye, "I wasn't me; and it's my destiny, to end this war and help restore the era of peace."_

She sat down on her bed and stared off into the fire, "I don't understand…I don't understand him at all." She scowled, "How on earth did he prove to the Avatar that he could be trusted? How could the Avatar just let him join the group so easily?" she tapped her chin as she pondered with her thoughts, she closed her eyes and stood up from her bed and lingered over to her balcony, "Maybe that is his destiny." She whispered, "It's so hard to believe…someone from the Royal Family side up with the Avatar…but Zuko…he was out trying to kill the child for the last three years…how, when…" she paused, "It must've been uncle." She clenched her teeth, frowning angrily.

"But he wasn't there." She rested her elbows on the balcony's railing, _'Why wouldn't Iroh be there?' _she thought to herself as she stared off at her nation, "I wonder where Tylee went? Off to the circus again?" she looked down at the Royal Garden, hateful memories flashed back into her mind. She scowled angrily and spun around and returned to her room, closing her door behind her and swayed over to the door.

Her vision suddenly began to get blurry.

"What the hell? I was just…feeling…fine…a…second…" without being able to finish she fainted on to her soft rug and drifted into unconsciousness.

A maid who was passing by the princess's room shrieked, "SOMEONE! GET A HEALER! THE PRINCESS IS UNCONSCIOUS!"

A commotion formed in the palace, soon became chaotic.

"My lord; please forgive us, we don't know what is wrong with her. She seems to have a fever, but not an ordinary fever." A healer bowed before her royal highness who stared at his daughter with a frown on his face, "It seems the time has come."

The maids looked at him startled as the healers looked shocked and nodded, "Very well my lord." They bowed down before him, "We'll keep your daughter comfortable."

* * *

The group arrived back on to Fire Nation Territory by noon. They began setting up a camp when suddenly Zuko fainted.

"Hey Zuko-, ZUKO?!" exclaimed Aang as he watched the firebender fall to the ground.

Sokka and the others hurried over to him, "He's running a high fever. We need to get him to a village!"

"How? How will we get into a village and not get killed!?" exploded Toph as she paced the grounds.

"We get back into our disguises!" replied Aang swiftly, "Except I have a problem…" he groaned, "I don't have hair!"

"We'll bandage up your head." Teo offered, "We'll make it look like you are injured." He searched in his bag.

Sokka nodded, "Good thinking Teo." Turning to the Duke, Teo and Haru, "We're going to have to get you two some Fire Nation clothes too."

"We can hide with Appa." Suggested Haru, "That way we can defend him if anything happens."

"Good, good." Sokka opened the map once again and trailed is finger along the path, "There is a village not too far from here."

"How long will it take us?" asked Toph as she tapped her food impatiently.

"By foot, about 45 minutes." Sokka began, "On Appa, about 25 minutes, maybe 30 depending on how tired he is."

"I'll make that be 15 minutes." Snapped Toph as she stomped her foot, "We have no time to lose; this guy had been having this problem for almost a week now." She earthbended a platform and lifted the earth that the prince was unconscious on and placed him on to the platform, "Aang you are going to have to help me."

The avatar nodded and jumped on board as Sokka sat down behind the firebender to make sure he doesn't fall off.

"LET'S GO!" shouted Aang as he stomped the ground at the same as Toph as they began dashing off with Sokka and Zuko dragged behind.

"We'll catch up with you later!" Haru shouted at them as Sokka waved his hands with thumbs up.

"What do you think it wrong with him?" asked Toph as she earthbended beside Aang, the air monk shook his head, "I don't know. I wonder if this is normal for a firebender…"

The small group hurried off to the village.

_Both Royal Siblings are facing a Fever, what is connection? What is wrong with them?

* * *

_

**END OF CHAPTER 6**

**A/N: **Wow, I made this chapter pretty long. YA ME!

So I decided to shoot over to Katara for a bit, then shoot to the gang, then over to Azula…

As you can see, everything is starting to make a connection.

I would like to THANK YOU ALL! For your awesome reviews! You are making me write on fire!

Chapter 7

Coming Soon!


	8. Chapter 7

**Previously on Escaping the Fire**

**At the Fire Nation Palace**

"_My lord; please forgive us, we don't know what is wrong with her. She seems to have a fever, but not an ordinary fever." A healer bowed before her royal highness who stared at his daughter with a frown on his face, "It seems the time has come."_

**The Gaang**

"_What do you think it wrong with him?" asked Toph as she earthbended beside Aang, the air monk shook his head, "I don't know. I wonder if this is normal for a firebender…"_

_Both Royal Siblings are facing a Fever, what is connection? What is wrong with them?

* * *

_

**Chapter 7**

_Fire.  
Nothing, but hot blazing flames.  
A shadow.  
A large shadow figure stood across him.  
Fear.  
He felt the hair on his neck react.  
Confused.  
He did not know if this was a dream, or a nightmare; or a vision…_

"_Prince Zuko…"  
The voice echoed in the cave.  
The magma bubbled from beneath his feet.  
He stood on Magma._

"_What the…?" he looked down at his feet and shot his head back up to face the shadowy figure._

"_Prince Zuko…" the voice echoed again, "You must come and claim me…"  
"What are you talking about!? WHAT IS GOING ON!? WHAT IS WITH THESE DREAMS OR WHATEVER THEY ARE!?" he shouted, he went down to his knees, he was confused, he didn't know what to do._

_He was scared._

"_That child is worthless. You are actually willing him to claim you? I would not accept such weakling." A voice sneered, "You are wasting your time."_

_He placed his head between his knees; he felt energy draining from him._

"_He can't handle you." The eerie voice snarled, "He won't even survive." Golden eyes snapped out from the darkness, Zuko looked up, and instantly regretted it. He backed up, running; desperately looking around for an exit, he couldn't breathe, collapsing to the ground he crawled on to all four and coughed, as the voices continued their debate,_

"_Look at him! He can't even handle this!" the voice echoed with an eerie tone to it, "You'll kill him, this is a suicide mission for him. He won't survive. Only the fittest can claim us."_

"_Damn it…" he hissed._

_The Shadowed figures glanced at him, he coughed, "I can't die."_

"_See, look at him! He's hopeless! Even though he should've been dead in the first place." The words hit him like knives, he collapsed on to his stomach, "Why...?" he whispered as his world drifted off into darkness._

"_Prince Zuko…We'll meet again…" that was last he heard before he was fully unconscious.

* * *

_

"Gods, he's burning up as if he's on fire! Aang! GET SOME WATER!" Sokka removed his hand from the firebender's forehead.

"Roger that Captain!" the airbender dashed off like the wind towards the river with two buckets in his hands.

Toph frowned as she sat on a rock while they took a quick break to get some water for Zuko, who felt like he was on fire…according to Sokka.

"Stop exaggerating." She grumbled as she got to her feet and placed her hand on Zuko's forehead and yelped, "HOT!" she clutched to her hand, "That burns…" she looked at Sokka worriedly, "What is wrong with him? He'll get dehydrated like this."

"I think we're going to have to stay at the village for a while, mean while; we'll ask around if anyone saw Katara; maybe she was taken to a near by prison." Sokka thought out loud, "I wonder how Katara is doing."

"I'm sure she's alright, after all; she has her bloodbending." Toph replied as she massaged her hand.

"That only works during the full moon." Sokka muttered, "Maybe I can contact Yue."

"Who's Yue?"

"I'll tell you another day." He smiled weakly and glanced at the prince, "We don't know what is wrong with him; but we can't afford to lose him. He is Aang's only hope for a firebending teacher."

Toph nodded as she jumped off the platform and got back on to her position, "Twinkletoes will be here in a second."

"HereSokka!" the words were rushed out, no one understood a word Aang said; but ignore it.

Sokka took the first bucket and dumped it on the firebender. He still hasn't woken up. The water changed into steam once it splashed on to the prince.

"Oh shit man. What's wrong with him? Is he on fire?!" Aang exclaimed as Sokka soaked a cloth and placed it on the firebender's forehead, "I don't know, but we need help; and fast."

Toph charged forward, causing Aang to stumble and hurry to get back into his position, "What was that for?" he whined.

Toph ignored him, instead she replied, "I wish Iroh was here. He would've known what is wrong with Zuko."

The two boys glanced at her with small nods.

They had to race against time.

* * *

"I wonder where they are now…" Haru muttered as he fiddled with the rocks, he turned to Teo who was doing measurements, "What are you doing now?"

"I am working on my invention." He replied simply, as he unrolled a large parchment plan with complicated instructions and designs on it, he looked up at the earthbender, "Want to help me?"

"I'll pass."

"I WILL!" piped up the Duke as he ran over to Teo, he glanced at the design, "What are you making?"

He smirked widely, "Something for Aang. I think he'll like it…more than his new glider."

* * *

"Okay! We stop here! Get into your disguises!" whispered Toph as she grabbed her disguise and created a large rock tent and engraved it, '**Changing**'.

"Oh yeah sure, make herself a changing room, hey Aang don't you-," he looked over at Aang who as well did the same as Toph, made himself a changing room.

"Oh great. So I'm the only one changing in public. Jeez, thanks a lot guys; you are such great friends." He grumbled sarcastically.

"No problem." Toph and Aang replied at the same time.

They all changed swiftly; before they knew it, they were carrying Zuko on a wooden stretcher Sokka made.

"I got to hand it to you Sokka; you continue to amaze me with your ideas." Aang complimented to his friend as Sokka just grinned, "Of course, I'm an inventor! I'm the brain guy!"

The two boys stopped and looked around as they entered the village; it was nothing like the other villages they went to.

"Uh, Sokka. Are you sure this is a village? I see more like an abandoned town." Aang mumbled as he scanned the village.

Toph shifted her feet and knelt down, placing her hand on the dirt, "No, there _is _a village." She stood up, "Except; it's just underground."

"How is that possible?"

"It's sort of like Lake Lagoni." She replied, "There is a village underneath a lake." She frowned, "Just where is the entrance?"

Sokka and Aang exchanged frowns, "What do you mean? You can't see an entrance?" asked Aang, as he and Sokka placed Zuko gently on to the ground, "Let me try."

Sokka scanned the area for brief second before walking off, "I'll look around, you guys watch Zuko and try to find the entrance."

The two teens nodded as the Water Tribe Warrior withdrew his sword and peeked into the houses, most of them had scorch marks.

"A battle happened." He muttered, he looked around and entered a house that was on to his right.

It was empty; nothing was inside; just shattered pots and glass. There was something strange about this place; and he didn't like it."

Leaving the building he caught a figure disappearing behind a building, he eyed his ground carefully with his sword in hand; ready for anything.

He walked up to the other two as they each exchanged serious looks.  
Someone was here.

"Should I?" Toph asked, she wasn't certain if she should earthbend or not.

"We might have to." Aang whispered back, his eyes darted to every corner, "Make a circle around Zuko, we don't want to weaken his condition."

Arrows shot out from a high angle; Aang leapt into the air and sliced the arrow in half with an air blade.

He leapt on to a building and dashed expertly on top of the roofs, eyeing for his target, he spotted a dark cloak dash off around a building.

"TOPH! NOW!" he shouted.

"Way ahead of ya, Twinkletoes!" she called back as she shifts the earth and caught their target.

Aang leapt off the building and looked at the person, "Why were you attacking us?!" he demanded.

The person did not answer; their face was covered by the hood.

"Look, we are only here because there is something severely wrong with our friend! He's burning up as if he's on fire!" Aang explained with a concerned expression on his face.

"Who are you?" the voice sounded like a woman.

Aang took a deep breath and looked around, "Do you promise not to tell anyone?"

"What are you, a criminal?" she demanded as she struggled against the earth that imprisoned her.

"Well, to the Fire Nation…that is…" he removed the bandage that Teo gave him earlier to hide his arrow.

The woman gasped, "Y-you're the A-avatar!"

He laughed nervously, "Yeah…um…will you help me and my friend?"

"Would you release me first?" she asked as Aang nodded and released the earth from around her.

She picked up her fallen archery set and smiled, removing her hood, "It's a pleasure to meet you Avatar…"

"Aang." He bowed as she did the same.

"My name is…"

"Twinkletoes! Why did you release her?" Toph exclaimed as she and Sokka carried Zuko who was on the stretcher over to Aang.

The woman looked over to Toph and Sokka.

"It's okay Toph. Oh sorry, these are my friends; Toph, and Sokka." He gestured at them and frowned, "Sokka, why did you cover him?"

Sokka shrugged, "Toph told me to do it."

The woman looked nervously over at the covered body, "Come follow me, I'll take you to my home."

She walked into a darker place and pushed in a stone that opened the ground below them, "Come along before it closes."

Nodding, they all hurried after her.

* * *

"Wow, you got an interesting place." Sokka began as he eyed the small underground home.

"Thank you." She smiled warmly and pointed to another room to the right, bring your friend into that room, I'll come back with some tea, and water." She rushed off to the kitchen.

Aang frowned, "I recongnize from somewhere…but where…" he muttered to himself.

"What do you mean Twinkletoes?"

"Never mind." He helped Sokka place Zuko on the bed yelped nearly dropping the prince on the floor a he did so.

"OW! HOT!" they both cried out hold their hands, Sokka blew on his hand trying to cool it off, "Okay, now he's starting to scare me."

"No I think his illness is starting to get _out of control_." Toph muttered as she sat on a bench.

The woman came back with a tray of tea in her hands. She hurried in, but stopped as she dropped the tea as it shattered all over the floor.

They all stared at her; tears were in her eyes as she dashed over to the prince, kneeling down on to her knees, she hugged the boy weeping, "Zuko, oh gods what did your father do to you?" she traced her fingertips along his scar, she got up and turned to Aang and his friends, "Aang, go to the kitchen and get lots of cold water, Toph; I want-," she stopped when she noticed the girl was blind, she was about to apologize when Toph got up and grinned, "Don't worry; I can help, what do you need?"

The woman smiled warmly, "Go and find some towels, they are just in the storage room on to the right from here." She turned to Sokka, "Could you get me some extra blankets? It's in the storage room as well."

She turned to Zuko, and trailed her hand along his face, ignoring the sharp heat burning her.

The three of them ran off and hurried to get the supplies, Aang was first to return.

"Thank you Aang." She smiled as he handed her the bucket and asked, "How do you know Zuko other than he's the prince?"

The woman smiled glancing at the ill firebender, "Because; Zuko is my son."

Sokka who just came in nearly dropped the towels, "WHAT!?"

She stood up and bowed, "My name is Lady Ursa, exiled Fire Lady of the Fire Nation."

"You are actually Zuko's mother!?" exclaimed Sokka as he handed her the towels, "How come you are so…nice…and the Fire Lord…so…"

"Evil?" finished Aang.

Ursa sighed, "I suppose I should explain to you how I got exiled, and why I was separated from Zuko."

"What do you mean?" Toph asked, "Did you do something…?"

"In fact I did." She replied simply as she tended her son, removing his sweaty shirt and threw it into a basket behind her as she tucked her son in, and placed soaked cloths on his forehead, "You see, when Zuko was younger; actually, ever since he was born, there was something wrong with him. He was born ill. Ozai considers Azula born lucky, and Zuko…" she paused for a brief second, "Lucky to be born." Her expression saddens, "From the day Zuko was born, Ozai grown hatred towards the child. When Azula was born, he was most pleased. He spoiled her because of how fast she advanced through firebending."

She paused for a long time, "Azula learned how to firebend before Zuko." She closed her eyes, "She was always one or two steps ahead of Zuko.

"Meanwhile; while she's being adored by Ozai, Zuko was literally abandoned by his father. I gave him all my love to him. I devoted my life for him." She smiled at the memory, "When Zuko finally learned how to create fire, he was overjoyed, he was so happy." Tears fell from her eyes, "He was overjoyed that he had hope to get ahead of Azula. He was determined. He didn't give up easily." She frowned, "But he grown frustrated from the teachers that taught Azula, who lacked patience. They did not wish to teach him because he was slower than Azula when it came to learning the basics.

"So Iroh taught him. He and his own son trained Zuko, and had the patience to help him."

"Wait, Iroh _had_ a son?" Toph asked, "What do you mean _had_ a son?"

Ursa looked over at the trio, "Lu Ten and Zuko were very close friends, almost like brothers. Lu Ten was a lot older than Zuko. When Zuko was only 6, Lu Ten was already 14." She sucked in a breath, "But one day. During the time Iroh was running a Siege against Ba Sin Se…A tragedy occurred." She switched the cloth that was on her son's forehead.

"Lu Ten was killed." Her voice changed into a whisper, "Iroh was devastated." She stopped tending Zuko and took a seat on a chair across them, "When we received the news, Ozai immediately took this advantage.

"He called forth a meeting with their father. Fire Lord Azulon. He specifically chose Azula to perform a difficult routine; to impress his father. Zuko wanted to show what he learned too; Ozai was not pleased. He feared that his plan would not work.

"In the end, Azulon requested an alone conversation with Ozai." She stopped, "I did not hear it, but Azula and Zuko had, however; Zuko did not hear the entire thing. Azula came to warn him in a joyful way. That child…Ozai transformed her in a demon." She clenched her teeth.

"But luckily for Zuko and I, she was telling us the truth, while she was tornamenting her brother, I heard him and went to see the commotion. I dragged Azula back to her room and demanded what she was telling her brother." She closed her eyes furrowing her eyebrows, "She told me with joy. That Ozai was going to sacrifice Zuko, which meant by killing him."

Aang and the others gasped.

"What a monster!" Toph shouted angrily, "I can't wait till we encounter that asshole! We will CRUSH HIM!" Aang pushed her back on to her seat, "Toph!"

"I have no offence taken." Ursa replied before continuing, "So in order to protect Zuko, I was going to sacrifice myself. Ozai and I plotted a plan so that Zuko would be spared."

"And what was that?" Sokka muttered as he too frowned like Aang and Toph.

"I go and murder Azulon, and he gets the thrown; of course. There had to be a punishment for me; otherwise it would've been obvious that we both plotted it." She closed her eyes, "So that evening I was banished." She began crying again, "I went to see Zuko good bye. I told him my last words of wisdom." She buried her face into her hands, "Just saying good bye to him, when he was half asleep, not aware that I was leaving…" she sobbed more, "Was painful."

Aang came over to rub her back for comfort, Sokka looked over to Zuko, "God, talk about screwed up family." He looked at her, "Excluding, you, Iroh, and Zuko…and Lu Ten…even though I didn't know him."

Toph growled, "That bastard. He screwed up his son's life. Banishing him…Scarring him…I WILL KILL HIM MYSELF WITH MY OWN FIST!"

"But pointing back to Zuko…" Sokka began, "Do you know what is wrong with him?"

Ursa nodded, "Everyone in the Royal Family experiences this when they are younger."

"So only the royal bloodline suffers this?" Toph asked.

Ursa nodded again, "Yes, however only the children of the Fire Lord's and Fire Lady's." she frowned, "However it's almost like a suicide mission."

"Suicide Mission?" Sokka frowned, "What mission are you talking about?"

"I can't exactly say, since I never experienced this. Iroh may have an idea; however…I think he turned the mission down."

"What do you mean?"

"Some people, who have stronger spiritual connection, almost like the Avatar's but not as strong. We all have spiritual connection. However Iroh's was stronger than the average. He was able to contact with the spirit who was giving him the mission…I think…" she tapped her chin, "I don't know the whole story. You'll have to ask him if you ever come across him." She glanced over at Aang, "Would you mind telling me how Zuko came to your group?"

The avatar nodded, "Well, you see; Zuko hunted us around the world for quite a few months; then since he had to hide from Azula, who was then hunting him and his uncle, then in the end at Ba Sin Se; Azula requested Zuko to help her take over. He agreed. And they both successfully took of Ba Sin Se." He growled, "And I should've been able to stop them." He sighed, "But once I defeat Ozai, it should be free from the Fire Nation and claim it Earth Kingdom Territory again." He looked over at Ursa, "Zuko returned home…I think…I don't know that part; wait…yeah he did return home, and then he started to realize that he wasn't being him, he was just being the perfect prince for his father." He sighed, "Well, I think that's what he said…Sokka, you heard him on the second day he joined us; he explained that story didn't he? Why not you explain it?"

The Water Tribe Warrior sighed with a shrug, "Very well; he told us that during the Day of the Black Sun, he went to face his father. He was able to speak his mind. When he was about to leave; well this is what he told me, Ozai said something about Zuko, and he explained what happened to Zuko…" he looked over at Toph, "Toph! You finish this up; I'm not good at this!"

"Fine Snoozles." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest, "Let's skip to the end, that's the important part." She eyed Sokka and Aang, "You two talk too much."

Sokka stood up and pointed at Aang, "Uh, hello! Aang is the one who talks too much!" he exclaimed, waving his arms frantically.

Toph snorted, "Yeah; and so…" she paused, "I think he can tell you the rest. He's waking up."

* * *

_Fire.  
Nothing, but hot blazing flames.  
A shadow.  
A large shadow figure stood across her  
She smirked widely.  
No fear was shown.  
She knew exactly where she was.  
She knew exactly what was going on.  
'It's about time.' She thought to herself as she waited._

"_Princess Azula…"  
The voice echoed in the cave.  
The magma bubbled from beneath her feet.  
She stood on Magma, with a smirk on her face. She glanced at the dark shadow with fiery eyes; "It's about time." she looked at her finger nails and back at the figure, "I've been waiting patiently for this." Her lips curled into a cruel smile, "Too bad my brother had to leave so soon." sarcasm dripped like venom from her tongue._

_The voice snickered, "Such weakling…He can't even survive this ritual."_

"_Indeed." She looked up at the shadowy figure, "Do you crave for power?" she asked fire flared on her palm, the eerie voice chuckled darkly, "It looks like we have a lot in common." She replied making her flame disappear._

"_Before I let you go Princess." The voice began._

"_What is it?" she frowned._

"_I have a request." The voice began, "I think you'll be very eager to fulfill it."_

_She smirked darkly, "Spit it."

* * *

_

"I don't like the way she's smirking like that…" shuddered a maid that was cleaning the princess's room while the healers tended her, one of them turned to the maid, "You may not, but the Fire Lord will be most pleased."

* * *

End of Chapter 7

**Author Note: MUST READ**

**I must thank you all for your support for encouraging me to continue writing; you are making me squeal with joy! 40 Reviews Means a lot to me! It just means that I am getting better at this! Thanks for all of the criticisms, (I know... I am weird…) it's really good for me to have someone always do that. Otherwise I can't improve my writing!**

**Also, once the Holidays are over, this story may be a month delayed. Exams are just around the corner. My parents will probably take away the computer from me…(Cries)…and so when that does happens, please don't panic about me not finishing the story.**

**Also, the story won't be ending any time soon. XD**

**A/N: YA! Ursa appears! I just HAD to add her to the story! I can't exactly say much, because if I do; I'm just going to spoil the entire thing. XD**

**Chapter 8**

**Coming Soon!**


	9. Chapter 8

**NOTE: Thank you All for the AWESOME Reviews!

* * *

**

Chapter 8

Dim light glowed beside him. He felt a soft hand caressing his face, no his scar.

"Zuko? Honey can you hear me?" a voice whispered.

The prince opened his eyes, ever so slowly.

"He's waking up!" exclaimed a young voice from the background.

"Isn't that obvious Twinkletoes?" snorted a sarcastic voice.

His eyes were clearing up, his focus was much better; he saw a face covered with tears. It took him a moment before he realized who was beside him, his eyes widen as he whispered, "Mom?"

"Zuko." She whispered back and kiss his forehead, he smiled weakly, "Mom…I am so happy…" he tried to sit up when his mother gently held him down and tucked him in more, "Don't worry dear. Just rest; I won't be going anywhere."

The trio's eyes widen when they saw tears in the prince's eyes, Sokka and Aang couldn't help themselves but spill tears as well.

"Hang on there, I'll get some tea for you." She told him softly and hurried out of the room as the prince turned to his companions, "Aang…Sokka…Toph…How…?"

Aang smiled, "We just happened to run into your mom."

"Am I dreaming?" he whispered, happiness was expressed on his face, Sokka and Aang grinned at him shaking their heads, "No dream." Aang changed his expression quickly, "Were you having visions again?"

The former prince glanced from his hands to Aang, "I'll explain once my mother comes back; so I don't have to explain things twice." He replied softly, he slowly got himself to sit up straight.

"Hey, are you sure-,"

"Yeah, maybe you shouldn't be move-,"

Zuko just sighed heavily, "I'm not injured, I'm just…I don't know exactly, all I know for sure is that I don't have any major injury…" he paused with a frown, "Unless…"

"You were only sick; I don't remember you receiving any injuries." Sokka answered, "Unless the illness is draining the energy out of you." He glanced over to Aang and Toph before his eyes trailed over to the door where Ursa came in with some tea for everyone.

"Here you go everyone, I hope you like Jasmine Tea." She smiled warmly and poured a cup for everyone, then handed them each one.

"Alright Zuko, can you now tell us about your visions…or dreams or whatever you call." Toph stared at him seriously, "But I discovered that each time that happens, you start to break down; which leads to the illness," She stopped for a brief second eyeing everyone in the room before continuing, "and each time that happens, you're slowly falling apart." She closed her eyes, "This illness of yours is almost literally suicidal."

"_You'll kill him; this is a suicide mission for him. He won't survive. Only the fittest can claim us."_

Zuko shut his eyes tight as the thought echoed back to him, he groaned quietly; but not quiet enough. The Blind Bandit heard him and quickly questioned him before he could avoid it, "What's with the groan?" she almost demanded, "Your body is tense." Glancing at Zuko square in the eye she approached him, "Tell us, _exactly_ what happened."

Zuko opened his eyes, he breathed in heavily, "It was-ack…" he clutched to his head, "Damn it...Why now?"

'_Prince Zuko…'_

His eyes widen, and dilated.

"Hey Zuko! What's the matter?"

"Zuko? Zuko can you hear us?"

"Someone get some water to dump on him!"

"SOKKA!"

"What? It was just a suggestion!"

The voices were fading away.

The prince clutched to his head, "Shut up! Stop it! Leave me alone! WHAT DO YOU WANT!?"

Everyone stopped and stared at Zuko, "Is he hearing voices?" Aang asked glancing at his friends for help.

_'Prince Zuko…'_

The firebender tossed around in his bed, Ursa was first to try holding him down, then Sokka and Aang joined; Toph stood in the background studying his behavior.

Eyes closed shut as he was pinned to the bed by two of his friends and his mother, he felt weak, he felt something burning…he couldn't breathe, his lungs were burning!

He coughed gasping for air.

"What's wrong with him!?" cried out the Avatar as his blind friend furrowed her eyebrows, "He can't breathe, his heart isn't beating properly, there isn't enough oxygen getting to his heart."

"What? How is that possible?" the two boys exclaimed as they struggled to hold the tossing prince down.

"I don't know. But it has to do with the illness." She replied as she continued to study.

"How do you know that?" asked Ursa as Toph shot her head up facing the exiled Fire Lady, "I'm blind; I see with my feet, I see things that you are blind of." She replied slowly as she faced the firebender once more, "We could seriously use Katara right now."

* * *

Katara sat in the cell, her stomach was growling every 10 minutes now. It was embarrassing. Her blindfold was wet from her tears that she couldn't spill any more; her wrists and ankles ached from the metal chains cutting into her skin.

'_There must be a way to escape.' _She thought to herself.

'_Waterbending is the only way.' _

'_Yeah you are right…' _she groaned at the thought.

'_But, there is a way.'_

'_Since when did you come up with the plan?'_

'_Today.'_

'_Shut up, leave me to the brainstorming'_

'_But I already have an idea.'_

'_Really? Since when did you become the brilliant one?'_

'_I've always been.'_

'_Whatever. Spit it out.'_

'_Remember Hama?'_

'_Don't remind me.'_

'_Well anyways, she taught you bloodbending.'_

'_How is bloodbending going to help me in my situation I'm in at the moment?'_

'_Good point.'_

'_Exactly.'_

'_No, but she taught you other things that would be useful.'_

'_Like.'_

'_You said you were the one with the brain, tell me.'_

'_What's the point, don't you know?'_

'_Stop wasting time, we're-,'_

'_I'm.'_

'_I'm part of you, so make it we.'_

'_No. I'm.'_

'_We!'_

'_Whatever.'_

'_About time.'_

'_Get to your point.'_

'_Remember she mentioned that sometimes there'll be times when you have no water around.'_

'_Yeah.'_

'_But she corrected you by explaining there is water no matter where you go.'_

'_So…'_

'_Do you remember?'_

'_Yes.'_

'_Good, good. You get where I am going?'_

'_Waterbend out of thin air?'_

'_YES! Remember how she made those ice daggers on her hand; you could do that to the chains that are surrounding your wrists!'_

'_Wow, you think it'll actually work.'_

'_If it doesn't we're screwed.'_

'_But we'll need to smash it with something. I can't see a thing though.'_

'_Feel for a wall and smash it against that.'_

'_Man, you are brilliant today.'_

'_Thank you very much, about time I am appreciated.'_

'_What do we do after that?'_

'_Set your feet free, heal any injuries you have, break out, and you are free.'_

'_What happens if we run across our captor, we don't even know who it is!'_

'_You didn't see?'_

'_Whoever they were knocked me out before I could do anything about it!'_

'_Then we have two backup plans.'_

'_Eh?'_

'_Okay first;  
__**Plan A**__: Escape without being caught.  
__**Plan B: **__Bloodbend if caught.  
__**Plan C**__: Run.'_

'_Sounds pretty good to me.'_

'_Alright, let's set this plan into action.'

* * *

_

Golden eyes snapped open and bolted up straight. There were gasps of surprise from the healers and servants.

"Princess! How are you feeling?"

Azula smirked and got out of bed, as the maids and servants handed her a robe.

"I never felt so alive."

The maids and certain healers shuddered in the background.

"You are all dismissed." She waved her hand and pointed to a healer, "Fetch me my father. I would like to have a word with him."

"Of course your highness." The healer bowed and scurried out of the room.

The princess glanced into the fire with her deadly smirk never leaving her face.

"Princess Azula."

Her eyes trailed over to where her father stood by the door closing it behind him, "Tell me about it."

The smirk did not fade at the sight of her father. Her lips curled up into a cruel smile, "I've never felt so alive." She repeated from what she told the maids, "It's about time _they_ appeared."

"So I was right."

"Of course, I was rather getting impatient. In fact, in order to satisfy me even more…" she trailed off for a dramatic effect, "I was given a request that I happily agreed to."

Ozai frowned, "And what was that?"

She lingered to her bed and sat down with ladylike manners, "I think you'll be eager to hear this as well."

Ozai arched one eyebrow before walking in front of the fireplace glancing at his daughter, "What was the request?"

"Tomorrow morning I'll be leaving." She once again ignored the question, her smirk dropped as she stood up again and swayed over to the window still and leaned against it, "I'm dragging Mai along with me…I don't care how heartbroken she is about Zuko's betrayal; she's coming."

"This has to do with your traitorous brother of yours." Ozai frowned but smirked a little, "This should be interesting."

"I think so too…" she trailed off, "Unless he doesn't survive the ritual; my job would be much easier." She purred as she glanced at her perfect nails, "However, if he does survive; I would be rather surprised. I am still surprised that _they_ are willing to aid someone who betrayed the Royal Family." She frowned, "But again, if he _does_ survive, it may cause some problems."

"How could your brother be trouble?" Ozai barked, "He was already trouble once, but this time he will be gone for good."

"Zuko was always ill." Azula began quietly, "But mother prayed for him to be cured."

Ozai growled angrily and shot a large fireball into the fireplace, "DAMN THAT WOMAN!"

"You forgot?"

"No, I am cursing her for it." He snarled as he spun around to his daughter, "I want him dead! DEAD BEFORE COULD EVEN COME ACROSS THEM!" he shouted out furiously.

"I'm on the same page." She replied with a growl, "If I was told correctly; I need to kill him or the other one before they could encounter each other." She stood up, "I was already told where to meet my new companion." She smirked and looked over at her furious father, "I'll claim my new companion and we'll hunt them down. I am sure Mai would be delighted to get her revenge on Zuko."

"Unless she breaks down in front of him." Sneered Ozai as he turned to leave his daughter's room. He paused, "However, other than that mission you received. I would like you to hunt someone down for me."

"Who?" the princess raised her eyebrows, "The Avatar?"

"Yes the Avatar; but you got a new target. I am sure you won't have any difficulties holding back."

"Just spit it." She almost barked as she spun around facing her father with her hands on her hips.

He frowned, and thought for a moment, "Never mind. I would like to think about it more." He left the room quietly.

"Hm, how odd." She spoke quietly out loud to herself as she watched her father disappear around the corner, before returning to her room to have a hot bath.

* * *

"_Prince Zuko…"_

_The former prince glanced around him. He was no longer in a dark fiery cave; he now stood in the middle of a meadow. He took a deep breath and breathed out, 'Thank goodness. I thought I wouldn't be able to breathe again…" he paused and looked around, "Where am I?" he asked himself out loud and stared at the Fire Lilies the bloomed before him._

"_Prince Zuko…"_

"_Who are you!?" he demanded._

"_You'll meet me soon." The voice replied softly._

"_Why can't you-,"_

"_I don't want to harm you anymore. This will be the last vision you will have to suffer. Right after this, you must depart and search for me before someone else claims me." The voice replied sharply._

_Zuko closed his mouth from saying anything further._

"_Good boy. Now, do you see that mountain ahead of you?"_

"_Yeah." He walked towards it._

"_Do you know where you are right now?"_

"_I think so…Am I on…Magma Island?"_

"_Almost, it's sort of like that island, but it's not." The voice replied, "Remember this name I am about to tell you." The voice paused as Zuko blinked waiting._

"_Sakura Island." The voices whispered out clearly, "Look around you."_

_Zuko continued walking through the field; he looked up at the mountain that he approached. Down below the hill surrounding the mountain was a large Sakura Forest, blooming with Sakura Blossoms trees._

"_In order to meet me, face to face, you must head down this hill and into the Sakura Forest; it's quite beautiful there, you can admire it after you meet me. Anyways-,"_

"_Sorry for interrupting, but why won't you show me the way right now?" he asked as he crossed his arms across his chest, "Wouldn't that be easier than explaining?" _

"I would, but you are too weak. You wouldn't make it half way through the Sakura Forest in the condition you are in now." 

"_Pardon me?" Zuko frowned, "Why would you think_ I_ am _weak_?"_

"_Because the illness you were born with, your body has below average of the Spiritual Connection than other people." The voice muttered quietly and continued before Zuko could protest, "However, if you can, and I know you will survive, because I believe in you; through your journey to this island and finally meet me; I can assure you I would be a lifesaver for you."_

"_Lifesaver?"_

"_You'll understand when we meet." The voice replied warmly, "Until then, I wish you the best."

* * *

_

Zuko bolted awake breathing evenly now, the avatar and his friends along with his mother stared at him with wide eyes, "What happened?"

Zuko swung his legs off the bed and looked at everyone in the room with a serious expression on his face, "We need to head to Sakura Island."

"Sakura Island?" Aang asked, "What about Kat-,"

"She'll have to wait." Interrupted Toph, she looked at Zuko who stared at her in bewilderment, "Are you serious?"

"I can tell by your tone of voice." She replied, "This is serious business."

Zuko glanced over at his mother, "I guess we'll have to depart separate ways for now…so soon." He whispered as she took a seat beside him and wrapped her arms around him pulling him into a motherly embrace, "I know that this is important." She replied, "I'll wait for you." She cupped her son's face and whispered softly, "We'll reunite when the war ends, when you overthrow your father and become Fire Lord." She smiled lovely, "I believe in you, I believe that you alone could lead the Fire Nation to a greater future." She kissed his forehead before ruffling his hair playfully, "Just don't get yourself killed alright?" the prince laughed genuinely before freeing himself from his mother's playful wrath.

Sokka blinked as an idea popped into his head, "Um, Lady Ursa; would you be able to take care one of our companions?"

Zuko looked at Sokka, "Are you talking about The Duke?"

Sokka nodded, "Things are going to get dangerous from this time on, I don't want the kid to be pulled into this. Also if we get captured, I don't want the innocent child to be any part of it."

Aang looked at Sokka, "You have a point."

Ursa stood up smoothing out her dress, "The Fire Nation ways of handling their prisoners have changed dramatically." She frowned, "Why is a child traveling with you anyways?"

Toph filled her in as she nodded, "Well, I didn't think anyone outside of the Fire Nation would know about the Day of Black Sun." she smiled, "I would be more than happy to take care of The Duke. Is there anyone else?"

"Nope. It'll only be Toph and I who will be the youngest again." Aang answered as Toph raise her eyebrow and left the room.

"Hey Toph, where are you going?" called Sokka as she shouted back, "The others have arrived."

The group glanced at each other before rushing out of the secret home.

"Aang?"

"Toph?"

"Sokka?"

"Where are you guys?"

The trio that was left behind searched the abandoned town with Appa and Momo, until the flying lemur flew around a corner and never came back; well until Aang and the others arrived.

"There you are!" Teo shouted as he wheeled over to them, "Man we got lost for a bit, what were you doing for the last few hours?"

The Duke looked at Ursa, "Who's that?" he blinked, "She looks almost like Zuko."

Zuko chuckled uneasily, "Heh, everyone. Meet my mother; Lady Ursa."

"EH!?" the trio exclaimed staring at the exiled Fire Lady, "Are you serious?"

Toph nodded answering them simply, "Yeah, the little guy said it himself, they looked almost alike."

Haru blinked at Teo as Sokka smiled, "This is Haru, Teo and the little guy, The Duke." He crouched down siting like a frog and began, "Duke, we were thinking for the sake of your own safety that you stay with Zuko's mother. She's really nice and is willing to take care of you."

The Duke blinked and looked over at Ursa and his face changed into a frightened face staring at Sokka, "You want me to be with the FIRE LADY!?"

"She's exiled."

"Oh." He paused, "Are you sure she's safe."

Ursa approached them and knelt down placing her hands on to her knees, "You can trust me. I'm hiding from the Fire Nation as well."

The Duke blinked, "How come?"

"I was exiled. And exiled people aren't allowed on Fire Nation territory." She replied softly with a sad smile.

Sokka grinned, "Best of all, if you stay with her, you'll be able to stay in a cozy home, with food and water! You can sleep in a bed too!"

The child's eyes widen, "Food!?" he stopped, "But why are you leaving me with the lady?"

Sokka's eyes softened, "We don't want you in any sort of danger. Remember when Katara mysteriously vanished and Azula invaded the Western Air Temple and we had no food available, in the end we nearly starved." He shot the child a small smile, "We don't want you to suffer. Besides; you can trust Ursa; she is a very kind woman. Once the war is over, she'll take you to the Fire Nation capital to reunite with us. Or something like that."

The Duke thought for a long time before answering, "Are you sure?"

Aang knelt down beside the child and nodded, "We are thinking about your safety. We don't want to drag you into violence that'll be even worse than you seen and fought."

The Duke nodded, "I'll stay with Lady Ursa if Aang trusts her."

"I trust her." Aang replied with a smile on his face, "She won't let us down."

The young boy grinned and turned to the exiled Fire Lady, "Please take care of me your highness!"

"You can call me Ursa." She replied softly as she held out her hand, "Nice to meet you, The Duke."

The child grinned and looked over his shoulder laughing at Teo, "HA! SHE CALLED ME _THE_ DUKE!"

Teo shrugged with a silly grin on his face.

Sokka and Aang already gotten back on to their feet; Ursa stood up and walked over to her son giving him big hug, "I wish you the best Zuko."

"You too mom." He buried his face into her shoulder, "I love you mom."

"I love you too Zuko." She released their embrace and kissed him on the cheek and turned to The Duke and took his hand waving to the others, "Drop by for a visit if you have time."

The others nodded and bowed to her as she bowed back. The Duke gave everyone hugs before watching them get on to Appa, "Bye guys! Kick the Fire Lord's butt for me!"

They all laughed as Aang took a seat on Appa's head and waved good bye to their new friends.

"Appa, YIP YIP!" Aang commanded as the Bison groaned and took off into the sky, flying away into the clouds.

Zuko watch his mother fade into the distance and smiled sadly, "I will end this war soon mom. Just wait for me."

* * *

Katara focused on her fingers waving around trying to withdraw water out of thin air, she's been repeating this for several hours.

Cold ice began to cover her hand, almost reaching her wrists.

'Almost there…' she thought eagerly as the ice slowly approached the chains.

She grinned to herself in the darkness feeling more confident than ever before.  
She was finally going to bust herself out.  
And it seems that Hama's lessons were useful after all.

* * *

**End of Chapter 8**

**A/N:** Whew, long chapter. I worked hard on this, seriously I have.  
Starting on Monday, from that day on, I might only be able to update 1 chapter per week. If I'm lucky; two or three more will be added. It really depends on my schedule. Right now I have to make sure I'm in good shape for basketball that starts again on Wednesday, since we had the Christmas Break as our vacation, no doubt about it he's going to make us run…run…run…I'm going to be dead. XD

Anyways, I hope you all agree with my idea of letting The Duke stay with Ursa, I have an idea that'll include the two of them in later chapters.

As for Zuko, he's now on his way to Sakura Island to meet someone he doesn't even know.

Katara finally getting into action, she'll be back into the story in no time. We'll be starring about how her escape goes.

Azula has a new companion joining the group. Her new friend will be a VERY interesting character, and will tie connection with Zuko.

Anyways THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR AWESOME REVIEWS! 50 REVIEWS MEANS A LOT TO ME! Oh my gosh, I've never thought I would have that many! This means more than you think to me.

**Chapter 9  
**_COMING SOON!_


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

It has been a day since they departed from Ursa's secret home. The group was studying their map constantly, trying to pick the fastest route to Sakura Island. However the bickering between Sokka and Zuko never came to an end.

"So Sparky, what are you supposed to find on Sakura Island again?" the Water Tribe warrior questioned the furious firebender, who was constantly running his hand through his hair from frustration, "Why are you asking me this every 5 minutes?" he smirked, "Everyone said you had a brain, obviously if you can't remember; it can only mean one thing."

The warrior looked up from over the saddle, "Excuse me? I wouldn't talk if I were you! You are the one who is _always_ complaining about how _slow_ Appa is flying!"

Zuko's eyebrow twitched.

"Actually…" a sarcastic voice cut into their conversation, "Now that I think of it; you never really given us an answer Sparky."

"Stop calling me that!" Zuko spat out in frustration and threw his head back resting on the edge of the saddle, "To be truthful…" he trailed off for a brief second, "I don't exactly understand why."

Everyone spun around starring at him with wide shocked eyes, "WHAT!?" Aang airbended himself over on to the saddle from Appa's head, "We are wasting our time-,"

"A voice told me." Zuko replied cutting Aang's argument, "However, whoever contacted me in my dreams told me that I will meet them on Sakura Island."

Sokka scowled in responds, "You are kidding me right!? YOU WERE SICK! When people are sick, THEY HEAR VOICES!"

"Why? That happened to you?" Zuko demanded with an annoyed look on his face as he sat up and leaned against the saddle again.

A sigh was heard from corner of the saddle, "Zuko was facing a Spiritual Ritual. We all know that." Everyone turned to face the Blind Bandit who had an annoyed expression on her face as well, "Lady Ursa even told us so, yet she doesn't understand it that well."

"But still, a _voice_ calling out your name and showing you all of these visions sounds like _madness_!" Sokka exclaimed waving his arms dramatically around in the air, "we are wasting our time searching for an _Island _when we could be searching for Katara_."_

_Zuko _turned away from his new companions with a heavy sigh, "This could be important." He glanced down at the sea below them, "I don't know why, but whoever I am meeting might be able to teach us advanced firebending that I may have not come across yet."

The group was quiet, the sun was setting over the blue sea below them, the moon was already shinning out brightly.

"I would like to be reminded why we are working with this _Prince_." Someone stated in a harsh tone.

Everyone turned to face Haru who had an angry glare on his face; eyeing the Prince specifically, "Why are _we_ helping _you_ when _you_ could be leading _us_ into a trap."

Toph arched an eyebrow as she felt the tension between the former Fire Prince and the Earthbender.

Aang stood up with a frown, "We can trust Zuko." He glanced at Haru straight in the eye, "Just because you had a bad past with Fire Nation, doesn't mean that it's all Zuko's fault."

Haru rolled his eyes, "Whatever, I'm not in the mood of arguing, so I'll drop it from here." He paused for a brief second before turning his gaze over to the Blind Bandit, keeping thoughts to himself; and closed his eyes, ending the convention.

No spoke again for the rest of the night.

* * *

The sound of clattering chains that fell to the ground echoed the cell softly, the whispers of the soft steps that were light and quick; disappeared quickly as the Master Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe escaped from captive's base, and disappeared into a forest, and into the darkness.

'_Alright! That was a complete success!_' she thought to herself with glee, a wide smile was glued to her face, '_Now I just need to find the others…_' she continued running, but unconsciously decreased her pace as her worst worries occurred to her.

'_I hope Zuko didn't take any advantages without me there._' She stopped as another thing occurred to her that she happened to forget, '_Wait, Zuko was ill…So he wouldn't be able to anything against us…Heh, heh…sucker…._' Katara quickly sped up her pace and rushed through the forest, with a smirk on her face.

However her smirk did not last; she stopped and looked around, there was just one problem that she didn't think about before she escaped.

Where was she?

The waterbender fumed and swung her fist into a tree making a mark, "Oh great! Now I'm lost!"

* * *

"Why did you drag me into this mission again?"

"Why do you think Mai?" a silky voice replied smoothly, "I thought maybe this would cheer you up!"

Mai looked at her friend with a confused expression on her face, "Really? I mission to hunt down your brother again, how is _that _going to cheer me up?" she demanded sarcastically.

Azula pouted for a brief second before replying, "We're both after the same thing. We aren't just hunting my brother remember; I'm meeting someone and then we will continue our plans about assassinating Zuko and his friend." She fiddled with her bangs, "Besides, it's mending a broken heart best cure for a girl is to receive…" she paused for dramatic effects, "_Revenge_?"

* * *

The evening breeze was calm; the moon was shining brightly reflecting the crystal clear blue ocean. The tired flying bison groaned quietly into the night, while soft snores were heard from the saddle.

One was awake, staring at the night sky with wonder, in deep thoughts; with an uncertain mind.

His golden eyes closed for a few seconds as he took a deep breath into the night air, and stared up at the stars once again. Turning his gaze from the starry night sky over to his sleeping companions, he sighed softly and withdrawn Katara's necklace that he had kept hidden from the others and ran his thumb across the pendant's surface and stared at the engraved waves. His eyes never left the pendent until the avatar's flying lemur; Momo crawled over to him tugging at his shirt leaping up and down, making strange sounds. Zuko stared at the lemur as he put aside the necklace back into his pocket as he sat up straight and crawled over to the edge of the saddle and glanced down below at the blue sea.

His eyes widen and spun around hissing, "Aang!" he shook the sleeping airbender, "Aang! Wake up!"

The airbender was dead asleep.

"Damn it…" the firebender crawled over to the bison's head and took the reins, "Uh…What was it again…Yap…Yip…YIP!" he shouted as Appa groaned tiredly and took off like the wind.

Momo flew over to Zuko and landed on his shoulder. The former prince stroked the lemur with one hand as the other held the reins.

"Appa needs to rest, and he won't stand a chance with a pursuit on our tail." He told the lemur as Momo shook his head and groomed his face.

A small, weak smile appeared on Zuko's face for a brief second, he turned his head to the east and spotted the last thing he expected.

"I don't believe it." He muttered mostly to the lemur than himself. His hands gripped to the reins and yelled, "YIP! YIP!"

The flying bison took off down towards the small island with glee. For Zuko; the sooner, the better. However for the bison that is; LAND! FINALLY A BREAK!

Appa flew faster than Zuko could imagine to the small island, the former prince feared that he might be thrown off.

The flying bison groaned with glee, as he landed roughly onto to the island, which have awoken its companions from their beauty sleep.

"Ugh…FIRE NATION!" suddenly screamed the Water Tribe warrior, who was still half asleep as he waved his sharp sword around wildly, the Blind Bandit swiftly drowned him into the earth keeping his head out so he wouldn't suffocate.

The air monk yawned and scanned their area, and asked lazily, "Last time I was conscious we were flying, now we are on land…Are we already here?" he yawned once more as he jumped off the saddle and glanced at Sokka, who was helplessly squirming under the earth.

Zuko nodded as he glanced up at the mountain ahead off them then dashed off towards a green hill with overgrown grass waving, and bloomed Fire Lilies from the soft breeze. He stood at the top of the hill and glanced at the ocean that glowed from the moonlight.

His face was expressing a sharp frown as the dark ship approached the island much more quickly.

"Is that Azula?" a sudden voice asked.

Zuko jumped from surprise, but quickly recovered his frown, "Yeah, it looks like I wasn't the only one who had the dreams then."

"Eh?" the avatar looked at the former prince with a surprised expression on his face, "What do you mean…Azula, too had the dreams?"

Zuko looked over from the ship to the airbender, and then glanced up at the mountain, "I need to get to the mountain."

"Why not we just fly-,"

"My vision told me to go through the forest. It's the only way in." he turned back to Aang, "You may follow behind me, but on foot; besides, the best idea right now is to allow Appa to rest, he's exhausted." A small smile appeared on his face, " If Azula comes across us and creates a fight, be sure to show off your firebending." He half joked, with a chuckle.

Aang giggled childishly and turned his body to face the mountain, "That's pretty tall…" he trailed off glancing at the Sakura Trees, he caught his breath in awe, "What a beautiful scenery…"

Zuko nodded, but then suddenly turned the airbender as the child whispered out loud, "I wish I could show this to Katara."

Zuko's fist clenched from an unknown emotion, "Well, you better tell her that _I _was the one who showed you and your friends this beautiful island. Don't steal my credit." He said almost too seriously; although Aang took it as a joke as he laughed in responds, "Don't worry Zuko! I'd tell her!" he turned to the ocean and frowned, "It looks like Azula is just arriving onto shore." He paused and looked at the prince, "You better get going. You'll need a head start if they are bringing along those lizards."

Zuko nodded as he dashed off down the hill and towards the Sakura Forest.

* * *

"Ugh, disgusting!" complained a bored voice.

"Oh relax, it's just mud." A silky voice replied smoothly.

"Ugh, why didn't you just bring Tylee! She wouldn't have minded all of this CRAP!"

"It's not _crap_ Mai, it's _mud_!" Azula hissed with an annoyed look on her face as she hurried through the forest.

The Princess of the Fire Nation was getting quite fed up about her best friend who is normally quiet during the missions, and much more serious; since they landed onto the beach, she's been causing nothing but annoyance.

"Ugh! I can't stand this Azula! I _hate_ mud!" she nearly shouted out, as she stopped and crossed her arms over her chest with a sharp annoyed frown on her face. The Princess reflected the frown like a mirror on her own face; she too crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot.

They stood there in silence for a few seconds before Azula spoke up again, "You don't want to see Zuko; don't you." Her tone was _almost_ sincere.

Mai looked away, her frown never leaving her face.

"You've been trying to get me to burn you into crisp rather than coming face to face with my brother." She sighed heavily as she approached Mai and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder; "Mai, I understand this must be very…" she stopped as if she was looking for the right word, "…very _difficult_ for you." She finished and forced a fake smile on her face, "But remember what I said earlier." She stopped as her fake smile dropped into a deadly smirk, "I am here to meet someone so that we can assassinate my brother and his new friend. However; I would be more than happy to give you the _honor, _or could I say, _glory_ of taking revenge on my brother. I am sure you would break his heart even more than he broke yours…it would mend your heart back together, you will be _you_ again. He'll be out of your life and forgotten." She paused to see her friend's reaction.

They stood there is silence once more as Mai slowly nodded, "You are right Azula." She said seriously, she withdrew a sharp knife that fell into her hand from somewhere in her sleeve, and smirked darkly at the princess, "Revenge is all I'll need."

* * *

Katara helplessly wandered throughout the woods, she near that whoever her captor was, would most likely search by the river first; she needs this time so that she could safely hide somewhere until she finds her friends.

Her stomach growled from hunger.

"Damn it…" she cursed under her breath as she fell to her knees and clutched to her stomach, "I need food…" she looked around, the bushes around her were covered with berries that looked so tasty; that she would've ate them if they were edible. She was not about to poison herself anytime soon.

She stood up and looked up at the sky; the moonlight was her guide out of the forest, her only light, her only hope to help her find food that wouldn't poison her.

The waterbender approached a tall pine tree and began to climb up, swinging herself from one branch to another, till she reached a certain height where she could scan her area, but remain hidden.

Her eyes began to dilate unconsciously as she realized her worst situation.  
She was no where near her friends.

Tears fell from her eyes and down her soft cheeks, she hugged the branch for support as she tried to hold herself together, she sobbed as quietly as she could, not willing to be found by whoever kidnapped her again. Her tears looked up at the sky where the moon shone brightly.

She closed her tearful eyes and took deep breaths, whispering a prayer.

"Yue…Please help me…you are the only person who can see me…" she whispered, almost too quietly.

As if Yue heard her prayer, the moon light shone brightly over the hills pointing to small blurred area.

Katara's eyes widen, as her face broke into a smile and looked up at the moon, "Thank you Yue!"

Climbing down the tree, the waterbender sprinted off to the fields of the open meadow where the tall grass waved freely with freedom.

It was her gate to freedom.

* * *

Zuko sprinted through the Sakura Forest following the directions from his dream, behind him Aang and Toph followed, while the others hid and went back to sleep with Appa, while the three of them go off for an adventure.

Toph suddenly stopped and planted her feet into the ground, "Aang? Do you feel it?"

The avatar nodded slowly as he too planted his feet into the ground. Zuko stopped to see what they were doing.

"What is it? Is there someone following us?"

"Not just anyone." A silky voice answered smoothly.

Aang and Toph changed their footings into a defensive stance. With a frown glued to their young innocent faces.

Zuko hissed to himself as he looked at his sister with an angry expression on his face.

"I didn't bother coming alone." She continued, as Mai walked out from the bushes and glared at Zuko with a hurt, betrayed expression on her face.

His eyes widen and dilated at the sight of his girlfriend, he took one step forward, "Mai…What…" he couldn't finish; he couldn't stand that hurt expression on Mai's face.

She took one step forward as well.

"Why did you leave us?" she began calmly, her voice was steady, "Why did you leave _me_?" her voice quivered at the end.

Zuko couldn't look at her as he replied, "This is my destiny Mai. I must do what is right." He peeked a glance at her as she frowned and shouted angrily, "How could you betray the Fire Nation! How could you just _leave me behind_!" she shook her head furiously, "Azula and I were doing our best to make you happy-," she stopped as tears fell from her eyes, "God damn it Zuko! Were you _not_ happy?" she withdrew a snife from her sleeve; however Toph quickly reacted and pinned Mai to the ground with some earth. However; she did not touch Azula…yet.

"Don't hurt her!" he shouted out desperately as he dashed towards the girl who was stuck to the ground; Aang held him back and looked at him seriously, before eyeing Azula, looking out for any sneaky trick up her sleeves.

Azula calmly studied this and looked at Zuko, "You know Zuko; it's not too late to come back." She glanced at Mai with an innocent concern look on her face, "Mai can't live without you."

Zuko looked down at his feet.  
Damn it, why does Azula have to be so good at manipulating people?!

The royal siblings stared at each other for a long time. Nobody made a single attack, nobody moved.

Azula swiftly shot a spark at the stone that pinned Mai to the ground; Toph was about to react when Zuko stopped her and whispered, "Please don't hurt her…"

Toph sighed, "That'll depend if she is a threat." Zuko nodded and looked at Mai, "If you truly loved me, you wouldn't care which side I was on. You would love me anyways. Did you not understand the note I left you? This is who I am, this is what my destiny is." He took a deep breath before continuing, "You have a choice Mai, you can either accept my destiny, or not."

"I refuse to believe that you would throw away all of your luxury!" she screamed angrily.

Azula arched an eyebrow and glanced at her brother to see his reaction. So far this was pretty interesting. She smirked to herself for a brief second before anyone could notice.

The forest became silent; the sound of the rushing rivers could be heard from a distance. The soft melody of the waves crashing on to the shoreline echoed the silent night.

Zuko closed his eyes and waited a second more before opening them and frowned, "If you truly feel that way…" he trailed off, "Then it's over between us." He shot a look at Aang as the airbender nodded and swiftly created a gust of wind and blew the Princess and the Noble girl into the trees behind them.

They all broke into a dash as Zuko led the way to their destination.

For an odd reason his heart did not feel any pain like her thought he would've felt.

Instead; it felt like weight was lifted off his shoulders.

* * *

The waterbender sprinted through the fields of crops; she finally busted herself free from the natural maze and continued running to the village that was just down the hill.

She quickly jumped into the bushes when she just remembered that she was still dressed in her Water Tribe clothes.

Her sapphire blue eyes scanned for any sort of clothing; luck was not with her today.

'_Great, now I have sneak into the town and steal some clothes._' She thought to herself, then smirked lightly, '_But that's not a problem, I know how to steal_.' She grinned mischievously as she slyly snuck around the village. She glanced around her and spotted some clothes hanging on some lines…but they were quite high up.

She smirked as she whipped her hand into the thin air and withdrew a waterwhip,

'_This should be easy._' She thought with glee as she studied the clothes, trying to decide what to wear.

"Man, this is going to be harder than I thought." She muttered under breath.

* * *

**End of Chapter 9**

**A/N: I know this may seem kinda rushed, but I really wanted to update you know?**

**YA! FINALLY! I FINALLY GOT TO UPDATE THIS! OMG! I've been studying my ass off. I am still stressing on my Science and Math…History is the worst…Ugh…Stupid Exams…**

**Well I have to continue studying! The exams are on Thursday and Friday next week!**

**Once the exams are over, I should be back on track for updating.**

**Please Review!**

**OH AND THANK YOU FOR THE 60 REVIEWS! Man, what could I do without your support?**


	11. Chapter 10

**Previously on Escaping the Fire**

**Zuko**

"_If you truly loved me, you wouldn't care which side I was on. You would love me anyways. Did you not understand the note I left you? This is who I am; this is what my destiny is."_

"_You have a choice Mai, you can either accept my destiny, or not."_

…

**Mai**

"_I refuse to believe that you would throw away all of your luxury!"_

…

**Zuko**

"_If you truly feel that way…"_

"_Then it's over between us."_

…

**Chapter 10**

The group dashed through the forest without looking back to see if the two girls were back on their feet.

While the moon was glowing eerily through the canopy of the cherry blossom trees, their shadows ran behind them along the crystal clear river that sparkled from the light.

The former fire prince suddenly stopped dead in their track, which made the Blind Bandit and the Avatar collide into each other as they fell on to the dirt path.

"OW!"

Toph groaned as she pushed Aang off of her and snapped, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

Aang stared at her with wide eyes and glanced back at Zuko; waiting for his reaction.

The teenager was quiet; his eyes were focusing at the top of the mountain ahead of them.

"You guys can stop following me here. Just try and hold Azula back if you can, though she probably found another way around." He didn't even glance at them to see their reaction.

"What are you talking about?" the airbender asked with a confused expression exposed on his face, "Why can't we follow?"

Zuko did not look away from the mountain; his eyes were sharp as if he was looking for something, "Trust me. I need to do this on my own. If I do cross Azula; I'll do my best." He sprinted off without waiting for their answer.

"Wait! Zuko-," he ran behind Zuko until Toph tripped him and trapped him into the earth. The avatar shot her an annoyed expression, "TOPH!"

"Trust him Aang." She whispered, she approached the avatar and released the earth holding him down, "There is something in the mountain. I don't know if it is a trap or not. But all we can do is just believe in Sparky." She shot him a smile, "Okay?"

Aang nodded as they stood on the empty silent path.

No one said anything.

Just the sound of the rushing water of the river beside them.

* * *

Katara finally found a suitable disguise to wear; she was quite please that it fit perfectly. In fact, it suited her much better than her first disguised.

She wore a silky veil over her face; she left her hair loose; she wore a fairly comfortable red strapless dress with sleeves that were baggy see-through silk that covered her arms.

Her black slippers that she managed to steal without being caught were very comfortable, she walked among the small town and walked along open inns and kept her eyes open for any bounty boards. She stopped suddenly at a store with an oddly familiar sign on it.

She frowned and tried to remember the where seen it before.

The waterbender signed hopelessly; she couldn't remember, turning away she was just about to move along a hand rested on her shoulder spinning her around; she gasped.

* * *

The firebender sprinted down the path with his broad swords slapping against his back, the sudden sound of rustling leaves made him jump into his fighting stance.

A blurred figure leapt out of thin air, and landed ahead of him sprinting off, he growled in frustration, "Azula…" and dashed after his sister.

The two siblings raced against each other shooting flames at each other. His sister laughed cruelly, "So Zuko! The time has come! Who will summon them first?" lightning crackled between her fingertips, her brother struggled; debating that he should either redirect the lightning but fall behind, or dodge it and risk his life to keep in pace with Azula.

"Damn it." He growled once more and sprinted towards his sister with a furious expression on his face; his eyes widen when he saw his sister's deadly smirk. Something bad was about to happen.

When she released the lightning she never looked back to see the horrified expression on his face, she grinned manically and shot off close to the mountain.

Zuko felt sharp pain in his back, and stomach; he fell to the ground struggling to get on to his knees, he vomited blood and spat it on to the ground, the pain engulfed him as another sharp feeling shot into his shoulder.

He couldn't move, his vision was blurry, he could see blood everywhere, his arm…blood trickling down from his head. Did he hit his head?

Darkness devoured him and left him suffering into a deadly sleep.

* * *

"It seems that I was correct." A sneering figure snorted.

"Be quiet. He can live." Snapped an annoyed voice.

"After that set up? Pth, you are ridiculous."

"Why do you think he's definitely dead?"

"His sister plotted him; she would've won either way. Even if he were to redirect the attack, she always had a plan that would backfire him."

"Death is not the solution."

"In my eyes, it certainly is."

"I am surprised our clan even accepted you in the first place; normally you would be executed."

"I have my resources."

"I am surprised you haven't killed me yet."

"Who said I wasn't planning to?"

"You are waiting for the right moment aren't you?"

"Of course, and you know it…"

"Indeed I do, and I am waiting for it. I have my own resources as well. Don't forget that."

"Your resources are pathetic as that mere teenager."

"Are you suggesting that I am not intelligence?"

"We all have our strengths and weaknesses, except; I don't have any weaknesses; that's what you need to be successful and victorious."

"You need both, otherwise you will not be able to grow stronger. You resemble too much like the Princess."

"That is why I intend to work with her. We have about the same goals."

"Sometimes being the same isn't always the brightest idea."

"Oh shut up. I don't need to hear your stupid words of wisdom."

"Oh. So I _am_ wise? Does that make you jealous? Perhaps that's your weakness." Snickered the calm figure, "You aren't as wise as I am." The figure moved towards an entrance, "I am departing. We will meet again brother." And the figure disappeared.

"So he abandoned my brother? How sweet of him!"

The figure turned to greet the smirking woman standing before him, "I doubt he abandoned him. He has too much hope for your brother. He's wasting his powers."

"That's what happens when you let kindness get the better of you." Snorted the princess as she bowed down before the figure, "I am here to summon you…Yuuko…"

* * *

**End of Chapter 10**

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait and the short chapter! I hope I didn't rush it too much. Cries**

**I know I made Zuko a little wimpy. The next chapter will explain what hit him; but you are probably already guessing what happened...**

**Exams are finally over…for now…until June XD but anyways I intend to update this more! PLEASE REVIEW! I LOVE TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS!**

**Note: I would like to edit chapter 9 again since it turned out to have WAY too many spelling errors and stupid mistakes, but I'll do that once I get at least 3 more chapters posted up, or maybe whenever I have time!**

**(Oh ya please check my profile! I have an example of the dress Katara is wearing as her disguise…Kind of Fancy XP)**


	12. Chapter 11

Previously on Escaping the Fire

**Previously on Escaping the Fire**

_Zuko felt sharp pain in his back, and stomach; he fell to the ground struggling to get on to his knees, he vomited blood and spat it on to the ground, the pain engulfed him as another sharp feeling shot into his shoulder._

_He couldn't move, his vision was blurry, he could see blood everywhere, his arm…blood trickling down from his head. Did he hit his head?_

_Darkness devoured him and left him suffering into a deadly sleep…_

Was he dead?

"_Hey! Hey! I think he's waking up!"_

Okay then maybe not.

"_Shut up Aang, we don't want him to wake up just yet!"_

"_We really need Katara right now. This is bad."_

The voices were faint, but his body was suffering unbearable pain.

"_Guys shut up! We need to find a healer!"_

"_Can't you heal Aang?"_

"_I CAN'T! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO HEAL!"_

"_Maybe you should've taken the courses when you had the chance when we were up at the North Pole!"_

"_Well it's not my fault that we were raided!"_

"_Of course it isn't!"_

Why are they yelling about?

"_Then why are you blaming me!?"_

"_SHUT UP!"_

There was a moment of silence.

There was a whisper that he almost barely heard; he only caught part of it.

"_We…burn….poison…severe…"_

He should've ignored them.

His mind drifted back into darkness…

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Katara walked among the small town and walked along open inns and kept her eyes open for any bounty boards. She stopped suddenly at a store with an oddly familiar sign on it.

She frowned and tried to remember the where seen it before.

The waterbender sighed hopelessly; she couldn't remember, turning away she was just about to move along a hand rested on her shoulder spinning her around; she gasped.

"Katara?"

"Iroh?" she turned to face him and gasped once more, "What happened to you?"

"There was a battle not too far from here. It seems that some people are already forming rebels." He answered slowly, "I happened to get dragged in while I was escaping the Fire Nation capital."

"Wait. You…what?" Katara was confused, as the elderly uncle pushed her lightly towards the shop that he recently came out of, "Come with my Katara, we will get you something to eat and I'll explain what happened." He walked towards the entrance, and opened up for her as she walked in, as he asked, "Where are your friends?"

Her face shadowed into the darkness of the shop as Iroh tapped on the floor and spoke a password that she couldn't hear and was quickly greeted by another elderly man with a smile on his face,; he glanced at Katara, "Who's this general?"

"This is a friend of mine and the Avatar's. She will stay with us for now." He smiled at her and continued, "You will be kept safe here for now. You can get all the rest you need."

Katara nodded slowly as she climbed down the stone stairwell with Iroh behind her closing the trap door and lightning a torch for his friend to carry.

They came into a bright room where there were many other people, men, women, even a few children.

"What is this place?" Katara asked quietly as Iroh chuckled, "This is the White Lotus Society. We are forming a rebellion against the Fire Lord, but there are others who aren't part of it, who decide to do it themselves."

"You mean the fight you happened to get pulled into?"

"Yes." The retired general replied, "That's an example." He sat down on a cushion and patted a seat beside him, "Sit here Katara; please have some tea and explain us what you are doing here at this time of the night?"

She nodded as she sat down and removed the veil that was already annoying her, "Well, after the invasion that failed, we had to retreat the western air temple…" she stopped and looked at him sharply, "…and we met up with someone unexpected."

Iroh frowned, "Who was it?"

Katara took a deep breath, "Your nephew. Prince Zuko."

Iroh blinked and took a sip of his tea and blinked once more before asking, "Pardon…Did you say…my nephew…Zuko joined you suddenly?"

"Yes…" Katara was uncertain now.

Suddenly Iroh jumped to his feet and started laughing cheerfully, "MY NEPHEW FINALLY REDEEMED HIMSELF!"

Katara stared at the retired general with wide eyes. Since when did elderly men have that much energy?

Iroh calmed down and apologized to the others who just stared at him as he sipped his tea and replied calmly to Katara, "I am overjoyed." He smiled, his eyes began to water, "I'm glad that Zuko figured it out on his own. It makes me proud." He wiped his eyes and took his teacup and took another sip.

"But Iroh…" Katara began slowly, "Something happened to Zuko though."

Iroh nearly spat out his tea, "What did you say?"

She repeated herself, "Something happened to Zuko; I don't understand what. He was perfectly healthy when suddenly he couldn't breathe or something like that, he had this terrible fever, it was almost as if he was on fire."

Iroh's face paled, "Oh dear." He slowly placed his tea down and rested his hands on his knees, "It seems the time has come again."

The waterbender blinked, "What time has come again? An event?"

Iroh nodded, "Almost, but not exactly." He looked at her, "Before I explain, I would like to know what happened to the others? Are they around?"

Katara once again looked down at her hands that were clasped together on her lap, "I don't know where they are."

Iroh frowned, "Were you separated?"

Katara nodded, her eyes remained downcast; "I was kidnapped. I don't know who it was. It happened on the night Zuko got sick, I went to get some water so that I could try and heal him, but before I could, I was kidnapped and was brought near this town."

Iroh stroked his beard thoughtfully, "Then Zuko is out of the picture."

"Of course. I know Zuko wouldn't leave me to starve." She replied.

_Growl…_

Katara blushed from embarrassment as Iroh glanced at her before waving, "Could someone bring her a meal please? The girl needs something to eat."

Katara smiled, "Thank you for your help Iroh."

"It's no problem really." He paused, "I think I know where your friends are though."

Katara blinked, "How would you know?"

He smirked, "I have my resources."

* * *

Aang and Toph returned to the others with an injured bloody prince in their hands.

Sokka was first to notice and screamed for a medical kit.

Haru and Teo had to go and fetch water as fast as they could.

Aang created a base for them, shelter; little homes. Quite humble, Appa was pleased.

Toph said she had her own little mission and wandered into the woods.

Sokka was ordering people around, then when off to do his Boomerang Mission, whatever that was...

Teo and Haru scrambled up the hill with two buckets in their hands, Aang looked around and groaned, "Where are they?! I don't know how to deal with this sort of problem!"

Haru frowned, "Why can't we leave-," he quickly cut it off, as the Avatar shot him a dangerous look and snatched the bucket of water from him and carried over to the bloody prince.

Teo peeked a quick look at the annoyed earthbender, he inhaled deeply then exhaled and wheeled in front of Haru and shot him a look.

The earthbender stared at the young teenager and frowned, "Don't give me that look!" he growled and turned his head at the ocean as Teo snapped, "You can't hate the Fire Nation forever!"

Haru snapped his head back at Teo and snarled, "I have every right to hate the Fire Nation!" he spun his heal and started to walk away when Toph suddenly appeared in front of Haru with her arms crossed, "You do know that it's the Fire Lord's fault for this mess."

Haru balled his fists and shouted, "IT IS THE FIRE NATION! _THE PEOPLE_ COULD CHOOSE TO REBEL! THEY DON'T HAVE TO FOLLOW EVERY SINGLE ORDER-,"

"Life isn't that simple." The Blind Bandit interrupted, "There are people suffering poverty in the Fire Nation. Katara had to scare the shit out of some soldiers to leave a village alone. There are people sick and dying; and the Fire Lord isn't doing anything about it. He's sending out sick people into battle." She huffed and crossed her arms on her chest, "Not only that; but most leaders who crave for power controls his people by fear." She eyed the earthbender, "So it isn't that simple."

Haru snapped his head over to Teo and then returned his gaze back to Toph, "Who cares, it isn't my problem. I don't care about them, especially that prince; who claims that he wants to make a difference." He stomped past Toph and paused for a brief second, "Not like you could_ see_ how much the Fire Nation destroyed the world."

_**SLAP**_

Teo gasped, Aang who came over to stop the argument gawked; and Sokka who just returned from his mission with supplies in hand, "What is going on?!" he stared at the two earthbenders, Haru had a shocked expression on his face; trying to collect his thoughts after what just happened.

Toph swung her hand back and poked Haru dangerously in the chest, "Don't you ever, _ever _say that again." Her voice was high and sharp; it was like venom dripping from her tongue, "And newsflash." She stomped her foot and lifted three small stones from the ground and spun them around over her palm with her eyes furrowed dangerously, "I am the Greatest Earthbender in the World." She shot the three stones at Haru's chest and whipped her hand like a slash and threw him into a large boulder.

"AGH!" Haru yelped as he was thrown into the boulder, he growled and took his stance and snapped, "Don't forget that I'm an earthbender too."

"I believe that you haven't heard me correctly _Pretty Boy_." She turned around and walked away.

"You are running from a challenge!" shouted Haru as he lifted a boulder and tossed at Toph who just smashed it into little pieces just by waving her hand; she stopped and looked over her shoulder, "You'll just end up getting hurt, we don't need two people down."

Aang and Sokka exchanged looks before Aang approached Haru and spoke seriously, "I think we need to talk."

Teo wheeled after Toph as Sokka went back to take care of Zuko.

Sokka sighed as he kneeled down and threw the supplies aside and murmured to the moon, "God damn it, where are you Katara?"

* * *

The wind whistled through the forest, the leaves shook from the breeze and blew off from the branches and landed into the flowing river.

Footprints were engraved in the wet mud, large footprints.

"Well, this is certainly much better transportation Princess Azula." The noble girl said as she fiddled with her knife that she spun around.

The princess of the Fire Nation looked over her shoulder with a surprised look, but a sly smirk was still in place, "Mai, since when did you learn how to get over boys so easily?"

Mai shrugged, "I don't care." She looked at the princess with a bored face; "I guess when I know it'll be fun trying to kill them?" a small smirk appeared on the girl's face.

"Really? I am glad you are interested. It's better to have two, oh sorry; make that _three_ people who are craving to spill blood." The prodigy smiled sweetly, "Doesn't that make the mission much more _interesting_?"

Mai shrugged and leaned back, "By the way, I thought these things don't exist anymore."

There was a low growl from the front, "I am not a _thing_ you mere mortal."

Azula snickered and patted her new companion, "Oh Yuuko, don't worry, she isn't a mere mortal like my brother." Azula tossed one of her bangs out of her face, "I am starting to think I need a new hairstyle…" she looked over at Mai, "Don't you think?"

The noble lady groaned, "Don't look at me! Go and ask Tylee. She's better at that sort of stuff."

Azula turned back to the front and tapped her chin as she thought out loud, "Now that you mention her, she hasn't been with us for quite a while now."

"Who's Tylee?" the low voice asked, almost in a bored tone.

"She's another friend of mine. Like Mai; she isn't a bender, but she doesn't use weapons either." The princess replied in a simple manner.

Yuuko snickered, "You are friends with someone who can't even handle a weapon?"

Azula kicked him, "You shouldn't underestimate her, she may look and act innocent; but she can wipe out a whole army of earthbenders." She sneered, "It just proves how weak they are."

The three of them snickered as they continued through the dark woods.

* * *

"I still think we should head back North." Katara protested as she trailed her fingertip along a path on the map that was laid out between Iroh and herself, "That way, we are near town and, we can have better look out for them."

"But, that will just bring us too close to the Recruiting Camp." Iroh answered simply as Katara sighed and rested her elbows on her knees, "Jeez, I can't believe how difficult this is getting." Glancing at the retired general then back at the map, she frowned as she spotted a tiny dot.

"What's that?" she pointed to the dot and studied it, "It's almost too tiny to notice."

Iroh looked up to the map closely, "I am surprised you noticed." He chuckled, "That's the Boiling Rock. A prison in the middle of the ocean."

Katara sat back and studied Iroh's expression on his face, her face scrunched back into a frown, "What kind of prison is it?"

Iroh sat back as well and stroked his beard, "It's hard to describe, I've never been there…but I heard from those who have worked there said that the prison was literally a maze." He paused as Katara quickly asked, "Why is it called the _boiling rock_?"

Iroh sighed heavily and replied slowly, "It's-,"

"Iroh!"

A young man hurried into the room and panted as he rested his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath, "We, got a situation outside."

Iroh stood up; he eyed the young man before turning his head to Katara and ordered, "Yin, get the lady some new clothes; as well as a water flask. She wouldn't be able to get around easily without being noticed with what she is wearing."

Katara flushed, "Is it that bad?"

Iroh winked, "Nah, it's just the beauty that will attract the beasts!"

Katara blushed lightly and stood up as the boy returned with new clothes, and a filled water flask in hand, he bowed, "These should fit you. You can change in the room on the left corner of the hall down right." He pointed with his hand as he turned back to the retired general, "What should I do in the meantime?"

Iroh gently placed a hang on the boy's shoulder and replied sharply, "Run as fast as you can away from the village."

Katara shivered at the elderly man's voice, she never seen Iroh act so…_serious_!

The Dragon of the West glanced at Katara and ordered, "Hurry, we don't have much time; I don't insist to fight."

The waterbender nodded and scurried off to get change, as Iroh and the boy hurried up stairs to see the commotion.

"I sense a huge event approaching." Katara murmured to herself, she closed the door behind her, and swiftly got changed; wasting no time at all.

* * *

**End of Chapter 11**

A/N: Hi everyone, I AM SO SORRY FOR THE SLOW UPDATE, and how short this chapter was! Yeah, this chapter had a crappy ending to it. I am fed up with it to. Anyways, I am desperate to update this fanfiction. I have never been so happy for so many reviews you all have posted. Again, THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

OMG! I can't wait till the Boiling Rock Airs. I am getting impatient! Evil laughter

Alrighty, I better leave now. I need to start Chapter 12!

Please Review.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Large, dark clouds spread among the evening sky; as the rain fell down to the ground, soaking everything without a cover. The rain was sharp like little needles, it was heavy. The plants were being crushed from the pressure the soil did not take long before it began to wash away.

However; this was almost as if it was supposed to happen. The town's people were screaming. Not because of fear; but rage. They all carried something that could be considered as a weapon; kitchen knives, pitch forks, pans, almost anything that had a sharp end to it, and that would easily kill someone just by poking someone with the tip of their sharpest point.

The Dragon of the West stood in the middle, surrounded by the angry citizens. They shouted in fury, as the waterbender; Katara hid amongst the shadows between the shops. She gripped to her waterwhip tightly, unsure if she should act and reveal herself, or rather stay aside, hidden, and wait until it was absolutely necessary.

Pressing her back against the cold stone wall, she carefully scanned her surroundings. She caught the signal that Iroh shot to her, before slowly, but quietly moving away from the dark isolated area, and into the open area, she quickly dashed the opposite direction without looking back.

'_I better not regret this!_' she thought quietly to herself and kept running away from the village.

'_Don't look back, don't look back…_' a small voice chanted in her mind. She already knew that was her common sense warning her to stay focused.

"Jeez, why did I even agree to this plan anyways!?" she scowled as the thunder roared as the lightning danced through the clouds, "You better keep your promise, Iroh."

**FLASH BACK**

_Katara dashed up the stairs and saw Iroh and some other men, as well as the boy she saw earlier discussing about something. It didn't take long for them to notice that she arrived._

"_Katara." The retired general, known as the Dragon of the West turned to Katara and approached her slowly, "You need to get out of here."_

"_Eh?!" she took one step back, "What are you talking about?!" the waterbender glanced quickly from Iroh to the others, "What's going on?"_

"_It doesn't matter. You must get out of here and give this to your friends." The elderly uncle handed Katara a scroll and a bag, then continued, "Put the scroll in your bag, we supplied you some food and money as well." He paused to see her reaction, "Right now we are about to be ambushed. You are to go back downstairs and take the left exit. Then, when you are there; go through the left door and climb out the window." He shot her a sharp look, "From there, you are on your own. We'll take care of the ambushers. Also, someone will instruct you when to run. Remember this signal…"_

**END FLASH BACK**

"That old man... He'll be more than capable to take them down!" she spoke out loud, "Yep, definitely, nothing to worry about. Nothing at all!" she slowed down her pace, "_Right?_"

* * *

"UGH! AZULA! WHEN WILL WE GET BACK TO THE CAMP! I AM FRICKEN DRENCHED!" screeched Mai as she covered her head with her arms.

The princess rolled her eyes, "As much as I despite rain, it's not worth our energy to complain so noisily!" she craned her neck over her shoulder and shot Mai a sharp death glare, Mai just looked away with a scowl on her face.

"How much longer?" the noble girl asked in an annoyed tone, she turned her head back to face her royal friend with a frown, "It feels like we are going in circles."

"She's right Princess." the two girls looked over at Yuuko, their new friend paused and looked around, "We must've been going in circles without knowing it, since we lost our tracks because of the rain and washed away." The two girls groaned as he growled, "Why can't we just-,"

"Forget it; something must've happened to the camp." Azula snarled as she landed swiftly on to the muddy path, "We'll make a camp here."

"Are you retarded?!" Mai shot out angrily.

The group instantly went quiet, Mai covered her mouth; shocked that those words were just shot out of her mouth without thinking.

Azula on the other hand was still trying to embrace the shock that just occurred to her, she wasn't quite sure if it actually happened. Her eyes were wide from the surprised out burst, her hands shook, trembling; either from pain or rage building up inside her. She spun her heal and turned her back to her noble friend, "No, I am not retarded. I am using common sense." She stopped, struggling to come up with more strict comebacks, "We shouldn't stay in the rain, we'll get sick." She announced sharply, "And just to correct you, I _was_ just about to say, that we were going to stay in that cave tonight." As she pointed towards a cave and began to hurry towards it, without a will to look back at her friend.

Yuuko just snarled at Mai and headed off after Azula, and snapped without looking at her, "Do not call our princess, a _retard_." He hurried off to catch up with the shocked princess.

Mai sighed, she slapped her face three times chanting angrily, "You stupid girl, you stupid, pathetic girl, you fool!" before actually running off to join Azula and their newest companion.

* * *

**End of Chapter 12**

**A/N: Okay, yes; this was indeed and super short chapter…I could consider this as a "filler chapter" so that I can move along with the story. Chapter 13 will be up soon; hopefully.**

**I would like to thank you all for your wonderful reviews! It's very motivating for me to read; it encourages me to want to write more and more and more! Thank you all once again for your support!**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

It has been 4 days since their last encounter with Azula, which at the same time; Zuko was nearly killed in the middle of it.

After resting unconscious for several days, the former prince has finally awoken from his deep slumber.

The sun has not risen yet, the sky was dark, yet slowly growing brighter from the sun rising from over the horizons.

The prince slowly opened his eyes, unsure where he was. He slowly turned to the left and right to see his surroundings. Of course, beside him; not too far away were his newest companions, still fast asleep.

Carefully, and very slowly, he slipped out of his bedroll and wobbled as he got to his feet. He stood up straight before heading down to the river that wasn't too far away from the camp.

Luckily, it was a simple task, he knelt by the river and cupped his hands in the freezing streams and splashed his face. He sighed heavily as he hugged his bandaged chest with one arm. He tried to remember what happened.

_He sprinted towards his sister with a furious expression on his face; his eyes widen when he saw his sister's deadly smirk. Something bad was about to happen._

_When she released the lightning-,_

Zuko snapped out of the horrible flashback and splashed his face once more. He paused as he felt an object in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out none other than Katara's necklace. He stared at it, then back at his bandages, then again at the necklace.

Was she back yet?

Shoving the necklace back into his pocket, he dashed away from the river, faster than he should've ran, and hurried back to the camp, to only find the others looking for him.

"Zuko! You moron, what are you doing standing up?!" Sokka exclaimed as he hurried to the fire prince as the others quickly followed from behind.

The prince winced as the Water Tribe warrior reminded him about his wound. He laughed nervously, "Sorry, sorry…I just wanted to move around a bit, I was feeling quite stiff."

He walked past Sokka and took a seat on a nearby log that happened to be beside Appa.

"Hey Prince Charming, how's your wound?" Haru stated sarcastically, Zuko just studied the earthbender's face before asking, "Where did you get that bruise from?"

Haru ignored him, "So how's your plot coming along?" he spat out, in a harsh tone, "Gaining their trusts, then turn them down suddenly..." He stopped for a brief second, "I am impressed. You have been so close of sacrificing yourself just so that they can't suspect you in any sort of way." He glared at the firebender, "I know you hired someone to kidnap Katara. It's so obvious. It was plotted out so well, it's almost too perfect to be true." He glanced away from the former prince as Zuko suddenly stated, "I don't blame the fact that you don't trust me." He stared sharply at Haru, "However, allow me to say that you are extremely lazy and hopeless. You lack determination; and you don't have an open mind. You believe that just because of leader of a nation, specifically the Fire Nation; you believe that everyone is just as heartless as my father and sister."

Haru snapped, "Are you retarded? I'm not lazy." He snickered, "What about that uncle of yours, no other than the Dragon of the West…" he paused, "I bet your mother was just as bad."

It happened all too fast, flames erupted from Zuko's closed fists; hot burning fire scorched the surroundings, he growled, the expression from calm to fierce anger was almost impossible to believe.

"Do not ever, ever speak of my mother that way!" the cold voice ran shivers down Haru's neck; he swore that wasn't Zuko's voice there for a second. On the ground; scrambling away from the fire, Haru literally forgotten that he could earthbend for a second there, because of the horrifying terror that just occurred.

"Holy smokes!" Sokka exclaimed as he entered the dangerous scene, in short time, Toph and Aang appeared into the scene as well, while Teo stood back in a safe distance.

"What the hell is going on?!" Aang shouted angrily, he waved his arms in the air and withdrew water from the buckets that Sokka carried, and swiftly extinguished the flames that were beginning to spread. He glanced from Haru to Zuko, "What's the meaning of this!?"

The fierce flames that waved dangerously around them slowly ceased as Zuko spun his heel and darted away from the camp.

Toph looked over her shoulder, studying Haru's vibrations, "Who started it?"

"He did, he-," Haru didn't get the chance to finish, Toph cut him off right after his first protest, "False. You are such a bad liar." She began to walk away as Haru shouted angrily as he jumped to his feet, "How the hell would _you_ know? You can't even _see_! You call yourself the _greatest_! But really, you are such an _obnoxious, spoiled, brat_! You remind me of the _Fire Nation_! I am surprised that aren't-,"

**WHAM! **

A boulder smashed up to the surface, floating midair carelessly. Toph stood her ground and smiled sweetly, "Oh, you are right! I _am_ blind and I _am_ an obnoxious spoiled brat! Isn't that just me?" she continued to smile innocently, "Sokka…" she batted her eyelashes, "Do we happen to carry anything that is _metal_?" Sokka and Aang began to back away from the area slowly, nervously smiling at each other and back at Toph, "Uh…yeah…why?" Sokka asked, beads of sweat were beginning to appear on his face, Aang continued to laugh nervously as he waved to Haru, "I wish you luck!"

Haru blinked and looked back at Toph who now held a metal pan in her hands, "Do you want to play a game?"

"What the hell? Weren't we just arguing?!" Haru exclaimed, he frowned, as he watched Toph study the metal pan, she looked up at him and smiled almost _too_ sweetly, "Do you know the game, _Rolling Heads_?"

Sokka let out a high pitched scream and fled to the area where Teo was and watched from the distance. Aang almost fainted as he snapped out of his scaredy cat mode, and recovered to his serious avatar mode, "Okay, guys, seriously…Toph-,"

"How do you play?" Haru asked simply, obviously having no absolute clue what she had in mind.

"ARE YOU STUPID HARU!?" Sokka exploded from a distance, "LOOK AT WHO IS STANDING BEFORE YOU! _TOPH_! _THE BLIND BANDIT_! _**THE DEADLY ONE**_!"

Aang took a stance between them. Although, Toph did not back down, "Alright. It's quite simple, all we have to do is shoot stuff at each other heads." She paused, waiting for the earthbender's response.

"Is this some sort of joke?" he asked as he took his stance and smirked, "Bring it on. Let's see-,"

"Hang on, I'm not done yet." She suddenly announced, "I suppose I should warn you…" she trailed off, "When I mean stuff…" she suddenly crumpled the metal pan into a large metal, sharp looking ball, tossing it up in the air and catching it again, "I mean _anything_!" she launched the metallic ball, that used to be a pan at Haru who yelped and earthbended a wall in defense, Toph smirked and shifted the ground beneath his feet, trapping him into a cone, leaving him to struggle as she picked up the metallic ball and approach him.

She grinned maniacally, "I think you should know you place." Her maniac grin quickly disappeared as an angry expression appeared on her face, then shouted fiercely, "I _am_ Toph Bei Fong, I _am_ the Blind Bandit, I am the _Greatest Earthbender_ in the world, I AM BLIND! But…" she took a deep breath then screeched, "I AM _**NOT**_STUPID OR HELPLESS!"

Haru was left speechless as she stomped away down the direction where Zuko previously fled to.

Sokka and Teo entered the finished scene and frowned at Haru; Aang walked off and kicked the ground freeing Haru from Toph's previous clutches.

"Thanks man-"

**WHAM**

Sokka's jaw dropped open as Teo just gasped; he stared at Aang with a blank mind.

Haru's eyes were wide as he found himself on the dirt ground, with his hands holding his face, he couldn't blink, he couldn't think. He was in a state of shock.

Finally someone spoke up, "I never thought I'd see Aang punch someone in the face with an iron fist?!" Sokka burst out as he waved his arms crazily in the air.

Aang sighed, "I never thought I would've either." He answered simply, "However, the monks never banned punching someone." He shot a dark, scary expression at Haru, which caused the poor guy to shudder in fear.

"If you ever, insult Toph or Zuko, or anyone else in the group; I swear, I'll give you a punishment that you won't forget. And not only that, you will be abandoned somewhere." He hissed darkly, "Someone lacking honor and respect should not be part of our group." With that, he and the other two boys that stood behind him walked away back to camp, leaving Haru to ponder in his thoughts.

Katara walked through the forest, not intending to stay on the path. It has been 4 days since she fled from the small town where she had encountered Iroh and the White Lotus Society. The waterbender was exhausted, but determined to keep moving, refusing to slow down her pace. Leaning against a large tree, she stared at a large hill not to far away from here. She pushed off the tree and began to sprint once again.

Not once she dared to waterbend unless it was truly necessary. With all of the rebellions and commotions going on, she did not dare to get herself included.

Dashing uphill, she arrived to the top and gasped at the beautiful sight before her.

Oh yes, the glorious blue ocean, sparkling in the glowing sunlight; the waves are crashing along the coasts, the smell of the sweet salty air. Ahh, finally, she's around her true element!

Taking a seat in the tall grass, she closed her eyes and laid back, relaxing into the spring air…

"Hm, summer is almost here." She said carelessly, "Everything will bloom beautifully."

'_Summer is almost here…_' her thought echoed back to her.

'_During the summer, the comet will arrive…_' another thought echoed back.

She sprung up straight and gasped, "Oh god." She ran a hand through her hair, "I almost forgot about that! Crap, the comet!" she stood up, "How the hell are we going to beat a _comet_!?" she groaned in frustration and face palmed her forehead, "My god, why didn't any of us think about this before! Even if we beat the Fire Lord, before the comet arrives! Wouldn't the comet still give off a huge advantage for them!? They could easily continue what they didn't finish! They could simply just form a rebellion!"

Katara stood up and looked around, "I have to find them, I have to tell them! They probably haven't even thought about the comet alone!"

"Do we have our deal?"

"Of course, your father assigned me specifically to target those two anyways."

"Good. Shall we elaborate?"

"Very well."

"Perfect, let's set this plan into action!"

**End of Chapter 13**

**A/N: **Hey everyone, again…not too much action, but it's slowly rising up to the climax, so don't worry! Chapter 14 and 15, or Chapter 15 and 16 will have two parts to it. So it will be very exciting…Well that how I have it planned. XD

Thank you for all of your reviews! YOU GUYS ARE ALL SO AWESOME!

PS: I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR MY SLOW UPDATE! PLEASE FORGIVE ME!


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

It was a cloudy morning was not exactly the best way to start another day of traveling. Haru was still shocked from Aang's sudden punch, Aang is worried about Zuko, Toph is still pissed off with Haru, Sokka is still uncertain about the situation, and Teo is worried about the weather conditions.

Meanwhile, elsewhere;

Katara had multiple things on her mind, about the comet, about her friends, but also the weather was causing her to worry even more. She does not want to suffer a fever like the last time she got sick; she has no need to have to use frogs again…

And with Azula, oh. Yes…The Fire Nation Princess…We'll come back to her in a moment.

The gang had already packed up their camp and prepared for their next destination. However, Teo has been non-stop staring at the dark thunderous looking clouds that would give him constant shivers.

Toph already noticed Teo's suspicious vibrations and finally barked out at him, "Hey! What's with the shaking over there?"

Teo jumped in his wheelchair and wheeled over, "I don't know, I just got a bad feeling with weather at the moment."

"Why? You can predict things with the weather?" she paused, turning her head over to Sokka, "Hey Snoozles, have you ever heard of a weather predicting skill?"

"Actually," Aang replied, "the monks told me that we can predict the weather by having headaches, and instincts that a storm would come." He paused, "So I don't believe that we could call it a skill…maybe more like a foresight?"

"Seeing the future?" Haru asked as he entered the conversation.

Zuko tapped his chin and added, "Well, my uncle wouldn't call that foresight, but rather _calm before the storm_." He sighed, "He saw it coming so many times, I feel guilty for not listening to him back then."

"Or rather, that you are guilty from the person you've been in past."

"Yeah, I supposed that's how it is." Zuko laughed nervously as he looked over his shoulder, and then suddenly gasped along with the others.

"Jeez, I was worried sick about you guys. I have been looking all over the place for you."

"KATARA?!" everyone exclaimed in a shocked tone.

She frowned, "What? You aren't happy to see me?" her eyes scanned her friends and then eyed Zuko sharply, "Well, even though I wasn't here…" she stopped for a brief second, taking a sigh before she continued, "And I know that you weren't behind the kidnapping…" she paused then suddenly asked, "What happened to the Duke?"

Aang laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his bald head, "Uh, about that…"

"We ran into Zuko's mother who offered to take care of the kid." Sokka answered as he approached his sister with a serious expression, "Lady Ursa is a kind woman, we can trust her-,"

"Wait, back up. Are you saying that Zuko's mother is alive?" she glared at Zuko and stomped up to him, then snapped, "You told me that your mother was taken away from the Fire Nation, you told me that she was dead!" she spun her heel and stormed over to Appa to fetch her waterflask as Zuko protested, "I didn't know that she was alive! It was a surprise encounter! I thought she was dead!"

"Liar." Katara withdrew a waterwhip and swapped it dangerously in the air.

Aang, Toph and Sokka all glanced at each other, as if they were secretly communicating…until…

"You are right Katara! Zuko is nothing but a liar! He's been plotting with his sister behind the scenes, he's deceiving us all!" Haru shouted angrily as he approached her with an annoyed expression.

"That's not true!" Aang exploded as he leapt over right in front of Haru and shouted, "Zuko has been keeping us alive, since Katara wasn't here! He was the one who took on the responsibility that no one else stood up for, not even me; which I should've done as part of my duty as the Avatar."

"In fact, because he managed to keep us all alive, he has been saving our butts!" Sokka exclaimed.

"He's right, Sugar-Queen!" Toph spat out angrily, "In fact, allow me to correct you…" she stomped her foot into the ground as she dug her heel into the dirt and whipped her arms straight at Haru, and immediately imprisoned him, "Pretty Boy, supposedly the innocent guy, has been the only one causing all of the ruckus around here!"

"You can't be serious Toph." Katara protested, "Haru isn't that type of person."

"Thank you Katara." He shot a glare at Toph, "Unlike someone who is _blind_, nobody recognizes the effort I have done, and my will to protect the group." He glanced over to Zuko and glared angrily at the former prince, "But somebody was acting as the hero the entire time!" he laughed without humor, "He even somewhat almost took his own life away just to make the act even more believable."

"Shut your dirty mouth, moron." Aang shouted angrily as he breathed in and out slowly, "Katara, you would believe me right?" he looked her worriedly, she had a troubled expression exposed, she took a deep breath and looked away, "To be honest Aang…I don't know…" she glanced back at his surprised face, "Unlike you, I am more self conscious of Zuko." She paused for a brief second, her eyes trailed over to the firebender who just stood silently by the bison waiting for further instructions.

Katara took another deep breath, "You are almost _too_ kind to everyone. You tend to believe too much in people. You just don't observe their actions enough."

Aang turned around and faced his back to Katara, with a hurt expression on his face. No words were spoken; the camp was silence except for the howling winds that whipped at their faces.

Zuko grabbed his bag and swung it over his shoulder, and went up to Aang and placed a hand on the monk's shoulder; Aang looked at the former fire prince, unable to read his expression on his face.

"Practice your firebending every morning and afternoon." He patted the air monk's head and walked past him saying nothing more.

Aang spun around and yelled, "Wait, hang on a second!"

Toph and Sokka exchanged a glance at each other as they watched Katara eye Zuko carefully. He stopped at her side, just close enough to brush his hand against hers.

"What is it?" Katara asked without looking at him.

"I had fun." He stuffed his hand into his pocket and secretly placed the necklace into her dangling hand, and closed her fist and whispered quickly, "I happened to find it. I am guessing that you have been searching for it." He did not look at her as he walked past her, "Thanks for the time."

"Hey! Wait!" Aang called out again, "You are leaving us!?" he jumped and blocked Zuko's past with his arms stretched out like a fence, "Why? We aren't done-,"

"Unfortunately, you will have to find another firebending teacher." He glanced at Aang without any emotions expressed, "Try finding my uncle. He will teach you high advanced techniques."

"Hey, hey, Sparky!" Toph snorted, she appeared beside him so suddenly that he nearly jumped, "How do you expect to get around the Fire Nation without being exposed in that condition?"

Zuko glanced at her, "I'll be fine."

Katara opened her palm and frowned, "Where did you find this?" she spun around to face him, she glanced at her brother who looked at necklace in her hands with a surprised expression, he turned his head to Zuko, "Whoa, dude, how long did you have that necklace?"

Zuko didn't answer Sokka's question, instead he replied to Katara, "I found it at the Western Air Temple, in the fountain."

All the sudden his vision went fuzzy, he wobbled but remained standing, just slightly off balanced.

"Whoa, Zuko are you sure you are alright?" Aang exclaimed as he slowly had Zuko sit down.

A piece of memory flashed back to her, startling unexpectedly.

"_Something happened to Zuko; I don't understand what. He was perfectly healthy when suddenly he couldn't breathe or something like that, he had this terrible fever, it was almost as if he was on fire."_

_Iroh's face paled, "Oh dear." _

"_It seems the time has come again…"_

Katara hurried up to Zuko who fell back flat, on to his back and muttered, "Damn it…"

"What?" Aang looked at the waterbender and back at Zuko, "Oh god! The wound is opened again!" exclaimed the young air monk as he stood up and hurried over to Appa, to fetch more bandages.

Katara quickly began to remove the bloody bandage that tried to cover the terrible wound, the blood seem to have bubbled a bit, the nasty scab that was once closed, and now opened again, was too almost too severe of an injury.

Her stomach flipped at the sight. Looking over to her brother she shouted, "Sokka! Get some water fast!" she turned to Toph, "Make us shelter, we shouldn't fly now, his condition will on get worse." She looked back at Zuko and called, "Hey, hey, are you still conscious? Answer me!"

Zuko did not answer. Once again he was unconscious.

'_What's with me? First I was arguing with Zuko or something like that, and now I am taking care of him! I really don't understand what I am doing right now…_' she paused her thought, _'Maybe I'll ask Sokka for the truth, he never liked the Fire Nation to begin with, and he isn't very is to manipulate…'_

"Yo, Katara, what is with the sudden change of mood?" Haru asked as he watched Katara withdraw water from her pouch, "I thought you were angry at him. Why are you healing him?"

Katara did not reply.

"Hey, Katara I'm talking to you, I expect a reply at least, why-,"

Taking her time to think she finally came up with an answer, "I'm confused right now." She said softly, "It's better to save a life and learn the truth, then decide what to do, rather than to let someone die and regret it afterwards." She looked over to Haru, "Haru, could you please gather some firewood?" her eyes glanced to the dark sky and back to the earthbender, "I am worried that we might be forced to stay the night."

"Katara! I got some firewood!"

Haru and Katara glanced over to Teo who was grinning, "Where do you want me to put it?"

"I got the water!" Sokka shouted as he came up to the scene and handed Katara another water flask.

"Sokka will give you further instructions." She answered with a small smile; she glanced at her brother who nodded.

Placed her hands on Zuko's wounded chest, she began her healing process.

"I'm glad that you are back Katara!" Teo grinned as he hurried off, rolling his way after Sokka, who was now leading Appa into the solid shelter that Toph just created.

Haru scowled, "Well, now what do you want me to do?"

The once calm, cool breeze was slowly becoming a bit more vicious. Katara removed her hands from the firebender's chest and stood up, depositing the water back into the flask, "Please help me carry Zuko into the shelter."

Haru clenched his teeth forcing a smile, "Of course Katara." He raised the earth that was below Zuko and 'carried' him into the shelter.

It wasn't too long before heavy rain began to pour down. Everyone sat inside the man-made _cave_ around the fire glancing at Katara who was looking at her brother, who looked back at her sternly; she broke the silence, "Sokka." She took a deep breath, "Would you care to tell me exactly what happened?"

Sokka nodded, "Where should I start?" he rested his elbow on his knee and held his head with his palm leaning forward.

Katara crossed her arms across her stomach, "Start from my discovery of my disappearance."

Sokka nodded once more, "Alright, long story, or short?"

"Short." The Blind Bandit and the Avatar muttered as they glared at Haru.

"What?" the earthbender scowled, he groaned, "Quit giving me those eerie glares."

"Fine, make it short Sokka." Katara replied as she watched her brother stand up and leaned on the wall, "Alright. From when you disappeared, we were able to survive lots of problems. First, as you know; none of us can cook unless it's you." He stopped as he watched Katara roll her eyes, "Continue."

"Anyways, so that was our first problem. Then Azula came into the picture. If it weren't for Zuko, we would've been smoked. Not too long after Azula's arrival, everyone started to get hungry, so Zuko decided to go and steal food from the ships, which was a complete success." He looked over to Zuko then back at Katara, "We were able to escape thanks to Toph and Zuko once again." Taking a breath he continued, "But before that all happened, Zuko had weird visions, but I'll leave that for later. After we escaped from the Western Air Temple, Zuko once again became ill again. That was when we ran into his mother and dropped Duke off." He grabbed his water flask and took a sip before he continuing, "And so we headed over to Sakura Island. We ran across Azula, who also looking for something there. Unfortunately that is where Zuko broke up with his girlfriend and where he was nearly killed…" he stopped, "And that's pretty much it."

Katara looked at Haru then back at her brother, "So are you saying that Zuko took over the responsibilities that I am usual the one in charge of?"

"Yes. But I didn't mention the parts with the ruckus created mainly by Haru…" he glared at the earthbender, "Seriously, he may look innocent, but he is one hell of a trouble maker." Sokka sat down again and sighed, "I wonder if Zuko is having another one of those visions again?"

"Visions?" Katara looked at Sokka, "Are you saying that everywhere you are going has something to do with Zuko's visions?"

Aang nodded as he approached Katara and sat down beside her, "But other than that, I'm really glad that you're okay Katara." He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a tight hug, "Welcome back." He whispered.

Katara shot everyone a small smile, "I'm glad that everyone is safe as well." She laughed softly, "I'm lucky that I was able to catch up with you all." She patted the Avatar's bald head.

"Sugar-Queen." Toph suddenly spoke out, "Do you have any clues who might've kidnapped you?"

Katara looked at the blind girl sharply, "To be honest, I have no idea." She laughed nervously, "But it doesn't matter anymore, as long as I am back with you guys safe and sound, I'm good."

'_I don't think it's a good idea to tell them exactly what I've been through…'_ she smiled to herself then suddenly remembered Iroh, "Oh yeah! I ran across Iroh."

"EH?" the gang echoed as Sokka added, "So that's where you got the new outfit."

Katara nodded, "Although it was for a short period of time." She paused then suddenly motioned Aang by tapping his head to release her from his embrace, he blushed scarlet red, as she stood up and glanced into the fire, "Also, something had occurred to me."

"Hm…" Toph glanced at Katara, "What is that exactly?"

Katara frown was sharp and stern, "As we all know, Aang needs to defeat the Fire Lord by the end of the summer, before the comet arrives…" she stopped, "I don't believe Avatar Roku thought about this part." She took a deep breath, "We will have to change the battle plans."

"Wait, what?!" Sokka and Aang jumped up onto their feet and looked at her, "You are kidding right!?"

Katara shot them a serious look, "The comet will boost firebender's powers right?"

They all nodded.

"Well, there is no point of defeating the Fire Lord before the comet arrives." She answered.

Aang gasped, "What do you mean by that?! Once we defeat the Fire Lord, we will have control over the Fire Nation."

Katara sat down and crossed her left leg over her right, "You may have control of the nation…but not the people." She sighed, "The comet is the perfect weapon to be used during a rebellion." She stopped to think it over once more, "We need to attack the Fire Lord…At the same time as the comet arrives."

"That's impossible!" Aang exclaimed, "I don't have the Avatar-State, so Roku can't help me when that happens!"

"The comet…may be the trigger to your avatar-state." She looked at Aang sharply, "Unless the Guru had told you there was another way, but you refuse to do it."

Aang's eyes widen.

Katara's eyes widen as well.

'_Did I just step on to a landmine!?'_ she turned to Aang, "Aang, did the Guru actually say there was a way!?"

Aang looked down with guilt expressed on his face, "It's too late though, I was supposed to do it at Ba Sin Se…but…I wasn't able to do it because of Azula's strike." He balled up his fists, "It's impossible now."

Katara frowned, "Had you tried to do what the Guru told you to do again though?"  
Aang looked at Katara with wide eyes, he shook his head rapidly, "NO, no…I can't…No…I WON'T DO IT!" he frowned, "It's stupid. The Guru was really no help." He clenched his teeth, his fist was shaking now. A bit of smoke was being released.

"Aang…" Sokka began slowly, "Fire…Fire…FIRE!"

Aang looked at Sokka surprised and noticed that his fists were holding a flamed dagger, his eyes widen. Quickly, he made it disappear and sat down again, "But Katara, you are right about something though; we did not think about rebellions being formed." He sighed, "This just seem like it's getting much more complicated!" he buried his face into his palms.

Everyone sat down again, and stared into the fire. Katara looked over to her bag that was now sitting next to Appa, then back into the fire, _'I'll check the scroll after everyone is asleep.'_

Thunder began to roar, and the rain began to pound on the roof of the man-made cave, the storm has finally arrived.

**END OF CHAPTER 14**

* * *

**A/N:** OH GOSH! I AM SO GLAD I MANAGED TO FINISH THIS CHAPTER!

I swear I read this over like sixteen times catching so many mistakes.

I greatly apologize about the slow updates! Please Review! I Love it when you do!

Chapter 15 Coming Soon! (You won't be waiting 2 months for this. I will promise you that!)


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The beginning of another storm had begun, the wind was howling, the thunder was now roaring louder than ever; the rain did not lighten up at all. The dangerous lightning crackled as it danced among the clouds. It was a storm alright.

The fire was almost dead; the embers glowed on the burnt wood. Several hours have passed, the gang decided to take a nap because there was nothing else to do.

Katara sat at the entrance of the cave with the scroll in her hands, her dark blue eyes stared outdoors, watching the rain and bits of hail drop to the ground. Her eyes flashed over to the scroll in her hands before she took a deep sigh.

"What's that?"

Katara shot her head to the side and stared up at the firebender that had one hand on the wall supporting himself, while the other hugged his bandaged stomach lightly, a curious expression was plastered on his face.

The waterbender eyed Zuko for brief second before glancing back outside, "Nothing much. Just a scroll from your uncle."

Before she knew it the scroll was snatched out of her hands, she scowled at Zuko who was now sitting across from her unrolling the scroll eagerly, "You didn't have to snatch it from me-,"

Suddenly the scroll was thrown back into her hands. Katara fumbled to catch it, as Zuko threw her his sly smirk, "Would you care to read it?"

She raised one eyebrow and glanced at the scroll then threw it back at him, with an annoyed look, "Why would your uncle give me a blank message?"

Zuko held the paper out hanging in front of him as he created a small flame waving above his palm and positioned his hand behind the scroll as the light of the fire revealed a hidden message.

Katara's eyes widen as she crawled on to her knees and stared at the scroll, "A secret message?"

Zuko nodded with his eyes closed, "Read it to me."

"Is that supposed to be some sort of order?" she snapped darkly, shooting him an annoyed frown, as he replied simply, "No, but if you want to, you could consider it." He opened his good eye as he smiled innocently.

The waterbender rolled her eyes, "Whatever." She looked at him, "By the way, that expression on your face is creeping me out."

He shrugged raising his shoulders, "You're just not used to it."

Katara didn't reply to his answer and began reading the hidden message,

"**Dear Zuko,**

**Ah, Katara told me that you have finally joined their group! Good for you! You have finally found the correct road to your true destiny!**" Katara stopped and stared at Zuko who just had a dumbfounded expression plastered on his face, she held back a giggle, "**She have also told me that she was worried about your health-,**"

"Oh, so you _were_ worried." Zuko eyed her slyly, "Just at the time when I was afraid that you were about to kill me!"

Katara blushed lightly, "I wasn't worried. I was _concerned_." She looked over and shot him her sneaky sly look, "Oh and you _were_ afraid of me!"

It was now Zuko's turn to blush lightly from embarrassment, he coughed, "Well what can I say? You had me dancing on your palm there. Besides, since you are only person who takes charge of taking care of everyone, and of course _you_ out of all people would be the only person threatening me for a good reason."

Katara shrugged, "Well at least you understood the situation you were in." she glanced at the letter, "Now don't interrupt me again: **Zuko, you probably don't know this, or maybe you do…or maybe you already have a slight idea what's going on. Either way, I will explain just in case.**" The waterbender paused and took a peek at the former prince's face; his silly expression was no-where to be seen. It was now replaced by a serious frown. His eyes caught Katara's glance, but ignored it as she continued, "**What you are going through now is a Ritual that runs down through the Fire Nation's Royal Family by blood. Someone or rather…**_**something **_**will appear in your dreams. It may not be a clear image, but for sure you will be given certain clues.**

**However, I am absolutely certain that you had no idea that there was a time limit, and there is a duty…I can't answer what it is because I am unsure myself. I did not complete this ritual for my own reasons, but Zuko; please be cautioned of your grounds, be aware of your enemies, know your allies, and you will survive. **

**Before I end my message, I will warn you right now; your sister is part of this Ritual as well, she is your rival, she will do whatever **_**they**_** suggest unless she does not agree with the terms.**

**Beware Zuko, time is running out.**" Katara stopped and looked at Zuko who was now staring outside at the rain and hail that had not ceased yet.

Katara studied his expression, she could not read his thoughts, she could not come up with anything to say.

Glancing back at the note she looked up at Zuko for a brief second before glancing back at the scroll, "Wait there's more." She paused before she let out a shocked notice, "EH!?"

Zuko jumped and turned his head back at her, studying her embarrassed facial expression, "What?"

The waterbender just looked out the opposite way from him and held out the scroll, her face blushing scarlet red, "Read it if you dare." She mumbled as he took the scroll from her hands and held the flame in the background, he began reading to himself, '_**PS: By the way Zuko, will be expecting **_**grandchildren**_** in the end of all this!**_'

Zuko growled as he too blushed scarlet red, he crumpled up the scroll and was ready to burn it, but instead he just threw it over to where his bag was. He clenched his teeth together and shook his fist angrily, "That old man…"

Katara wordlessly stood up and leaned her back against the wall, "Other than that ridiculous ending, the main part of the letter told us that you are going through some sort of Ritual." The waterbender continued to stare off into the rain as she suddenly said out of blue, "How's your wound?"

Zuko glanced at her then at his wrapped chest, then again back at her, "A lot better, thanks to you." He shot her one of his smiles, "And I am happy that I am making my own friends other than my sister's for the first time."

Glanced at him without moving before starring out back at the storm, "Zuko." Her voice was quiet, "What are your plans after we defeat your father?"

"Fire Lord." He corrected her, which caused her to look at him with confusion written on her face, he turned his head to have a better look at their group who were sleeping peacefully, "I don't believe calling him my father is the right terms anymore." He pulled up his knees and rested his head on top, "The Fire Lord, never had recognized me as his son, unless I assassinate the Avatar." He laughed quietly, "I could never kill a 12 years old kid with my own hands, I believe that I would be able to murder anyone in the future, no matter how much hatred I have towards them." He paused, closing his eyes turned his head back to face the storm as the thunder continued to roar loudly, as the lightning crackled upon the sky, "Uncle, always treated me like as if I was his own son." A sad smile appeared, "I'm grateful for that…" his tone turned into a whisper, "And I regret betraying him back at Ba Sin Se."

Katara just stared at him, she snorted, causing him to look up, "Well, at least you recognized what you did wrong, and you feel guilty for your past doings." She shot him a small smile, "So now after we all defeat the Fire Lord, what are your plans for the aftermath?"

Zuko rested his arms on his knees and now sat back straight leaning against the stone wall, he closed his eyes smiling, "I would try to heal my country, discard all the hatred towards the other nations, and guide them to the light where we could all make the world a better place." He opened his eyes and looked at Katara seriously, "Not as Prince Zuko, but as Zuko, myself, to lead them to a new era."

Katara stared at him wordlessly before she was able to come up with a reply, "That's what I was waiting to hear." She smiled and held out her hand to Zuko, "Welcome to the gang Zuko."

Zuko stared at her hand before grabbing on to it as she pulled him up on to his feet, he shook her hand smirking, "Let the past be perished, and let the future remain in our hands."

While they shook hands Sokka peeked from his bedroll smirking, shooting them a signal, '_Alright guys, just wait a little longer_.'

Aang, Toph and Teo nodded as they continued their silent communications among each others, while Haru, was the only one who was actually asleep.

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 15!**

A/N: Hi everyone, just as I promised, I updated quickly.

There is one thing I would like to say before I explain about the chapter.

PLEASE READ!

There was a Review, (You know who you are), that had really bothered me. I don't want any reviews unless it's positive an encouraging correction.

When somebody says that my writing is a WASTE of TIME, and he/she said that they _regretted _reading this! That really hurts me. I put a whole lot of effort in this! I don't want to be told that you regret reading my fanfictions, I don't believe that any other authors would like that either!

Now on to **Yuuko**.

As you should or some of you understand: Yuuko is a _MYSTERIOUS_ character, we don't know much about him. Right now he's creating Suspense.

The whole "complex" thing with Katara explaining about the Rebellions and the Comet. I don't understand how difficult it is. (**If it is confusing, I apologize**) Basically it's a thought that occurred to her. SINCE WE ALL AREN'T EXACTLY SURE WHEN THEY ARE PLANNING TO ATTACK THE FIRE LORD!

It could be BEFORE or AT THE SAME TIME!

So it's basically a theory that I had created myself.

So that's it for Chapter 14 Reply.

**Now for Chapter 15! Ya, let's get started!**

A/N: Well, yes, my chapter indeed was short, but I finally got Katara to accept Zuko into the group! Ya! Now they could all start kicking butts!

Okay about the ending part of Iroh's note, seriously; I just _**had **_to do that! It was practically screaming it out to me!

Also making the others fake being asleep, well it made the conversation a lot easier. No interruptions! Perfect!

**THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR REVIEWS! I AM SO HAPPY! You guys rock! I am glad you are all enjoying this fanfiction! :D**

Alright for Chapter 16! I intend to start bringing up some major actions, but I don't want it to sound all rushed … You all know what I mean…

Chapter 16! Coming Soon! WOOT!


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

A single flame waved around calmly within the darkness. The small flame was the only source of light in the unknown space.

He stood by the fire and studied it for long time, before looking up and instantly was shocked by a pair of piece golden eyes staring right at him.

"We meet again Prince Zuko."

The firebender stood still, he continued to study the golden eyes with an annoyed frown plastered on his face, "I went to the island in search for you, but before I was able to do that you nearly had me killed."

"I had nothing to do with it."

"Then how come you have not appeared for a while now?"

"I have my reasons."

"Then I would suggest you to spit them out right now." The firebender scowled, "All I know now that this is some sort of ritual and I am not very fit to do this sort of thing."

"That's not true."

Zuko crossed his arms, and pushed the topic to the side, "Your name." he sighed, "Just tell me who you are, that way-,"

"You will meet me soon." The voice said quickly, "My time is up."

"Wait, wait, wait! Hang on! You are dropping our conversation now!? What is it? Something is stopping you, or rather you are trying to avoid the question!?"

There was a heavy sigh from the other side of the flame, "This is a dimension between the Spirit World and the Mortal World."

"There was such thing?" Zuko quickly asked, "Is the Avatar available to make it into this dimension?"

"Yes and no. Only Avatars that are born in the Fire Nation and has some sort of connection with the Royal Families may be one of the chosen ones. For example; Avatar Roku and Fire Lord Souzin…however, they were the last people to have completed the ritual."

"Avatar Roku?" Zuko stared into the golden eyes and asked, "If the Avatar was able to contact Avatar Roku, would he be able to tell me more about this ritual?"

"I cannot answer that." There was a pause, "Time is up, we will meet again. Prepare for the unexpected your highness."

"**Wait!"**

Cold water that splashed on to his face, woke up him instantly. He panted slightly looking up, only to discover the rest of the gang staring at him. Aang was first to question him, "Did you just have a vision?"

Zuko nodded slowly, "Aang." He looked up to the young air monk, "Is there any, _any_ possible way I could, or you could speak to Avatar Roku?"

Sokka snickered, "Dude, start calling him grandpa, it's kind of odd how you still call him _Avatar_ even though he's your grandfather."

Katara's ears perked up, "Wait, say that again? Did I just hear that correctly?" she turned to face Zuko, "You are Avatar Roku's great grandson?" she glanced back at her brother like lightning, "You are not serious are you?!"

Sokka shrugged, "Maybe that's why Roku freed Zuko when we were at the Fire Temple or whatever for the Solstice."

"Sokka." Katara growled lightly, "Please do not remind me of the past."

Her brother laughed nervously, "Oops, my bad."

"Never mind the past, just tell us why you want to speak to your grandpa so badly?" Toph yawned as she continued to sit back on her stone throne she created not to long ago while he was asleep, "Does it have to do with your dreams?"

The former prince nodded slowly, "Well…" he paused to think the vision over, "Avatar Roku had this sort of thing before in his life, he was able to succeed along with my great grandfather Souzin."

"Who were buddies at the time…" Aang mumbled quietly to himself, "But Zuko, I would talk to Roku if I were able to, but right now I can't get into the Avatar state or get any sort of connection with the Spirit World."

"Or rather, you refuse to do something that the Guru had suggested." Katara murmured to herself, indirectly at Aang, her face expressed disappointment. Luckily Aang didn't hear it, or maybe he just had ignored it.

Zuko slowly stood up, and quickly evaporated the water, glaring at Katara, "Was it really necessary to drop water on me?"

The waterbender looked to the side with a sly smile, "Unfortunately, you are burning up, so I just thought that I should just drop cold water on you." She snorted, "And it had successfully woken you up." Katara now snickered, "Maybe I should do that more often."

The firebender growled and took a seat on the dirt ground; he glanced at the pot hanging over the fire, "Is that lunch?"

Everyone looked at him, "It's dinner." They all corrected him at the same time.

Zuko just flushed a bit from embarrassment, "I guess I was asleep for a few hours…" he laughed nervously, "Sorry about that..."

* * *

"Your highness!" servants came scurry to the court yard, but quickly backed away with terror expressed on their faces as Yuuko snarled at all of them, and glanced at Azula, "My lady, do I make such an image?" his eyes flashed over to the servants, "They look at me as if I will kill them." He snickered, "Mortals are so pathetic."

Azula shot him an annoyed look, "Be sure to count my father and I out." She walked up to a servant pointing to Yuuko, "Bring him something to eat, he's starving."

The servant shuddered, "Of course your highness." He paused as he glanced quickly at Yuuko and back at his princess, "Excuse me my lady, may I question who he is?" he asked bravely, he just managed to speak without stuttering.

The prodigy firebender smirked, "Of course," she looked over her shoulder at Yuuko, "sorry for the late introductions." She walked over to Yuuko and placed a hand on his arm, patting it lightly, "This is my new partner; Yuuko." Her lips curled up into a cruel smile, her eyes flashed at Yuuko excitedly in a dangerous way, "Yuuko, would you care to _demonstrate_ just bit of your firebending?" Her new friend smirked and nodded, "I would be honored to…but…" he sighed in annoyance, "…are they really worth my time?"

Azula patted his head and nodded with her cruel smile still expressed on her face, "Oh yes, I think they will be very _excited_ about it."

The maids glanced nervously at each other, then glanced at the other servants who were whispering among themselves.

A maid leaning against a large pillar grinned with sparks in her eyes, "Of course your highness, this will be worthan _experience_."

Looking up at the maid, Azula frowned, '_I don't recognize her._'

The woman smiled innocently and waved her hand, "Well, we are waiting for the performance!" the other servants and maids stared at her with wide eyes, and even a few had already prepared to make a run for it.

Yuuko studied the maid, he did not smirk, he just emotionlessly nodded, "Very well, I will do as her highness wishes."

Within a few seconds, there were people screaming from the palace grounds.

* * *

"Aang!"

The air monk looked up at the blind earthbender who stood before him; she clapped her hands for his attention with a serious look on her face, "Twinkletoes."

"I heard you the first time." The avatar answered as closed his eyes again, then continued mediate, breathing in and out slowly and deeply, "What is it?"

Toph scowled and stomped her foot, causing him to fly up into the air. The airbender yelped and quickly managed to airbend himself onto his feet. He scowled at the blind bandit, "What was that for!?"

Toph huffed, blowing at her loose bang, "You still have not mastered earthbending yet, we are going to resume to our training."

Aang looked at Toph square in the eye, "Shouldn't I at least learn a bit more firebending so that I can at least control a flame?"

The Blind Bandit scowled with an annoyed look on her face, "You won't be able to firebend until you mastered earthbending, everything is connected in some sort of way." She closed into his face, leaving very little space between them,"Besides, there is only one person in the world who can control all four elements, which means they need to be responsible for their doings."

Aang pushed her face away from his face and growled, "I know that everyone has some sort of connection in some weird way, but right now-,"

"This sounds a lot like the time we first met Jeong Jong." Sokka said suddenly as he walked by the two preteens. The two of them stared at him for a long time.

'Hey guys, supper is ready!" Katara called as she began to waterbended the stew into large bubbles and placed them into the bowls before changing it back into the original form again.

Toph glanced from Aang to Katara, then back at him, "We'll save this conversation till after supper." She walked off to get her meal, while Aang still stood there stupidly.

"Aang?" Katara was suddenly in front of him, her appearance made him jump back from surprise, "AH!" he fell down on to his butt, she looked at him worriedly, "Are you okay Aang? You seem out of it." She glanced at Toph who was now eating, "I saw you two talking…" she trailed off into a whisper, "Did you two have fight?"

"I heard that." The blind earthbender snapped without glancing at them.

The waterbender laughed nervously, "She must have good ears because of her blindness." She winked at Aang, "Come on, eat your supper and it'll make you feel better." She patted his head lightly, pivoting her heel she left to go and get started on her meal.

Sokka, Teo and Haru all glanced at one another and shrugged before continuing their meals.

However, Zuko on the other hand, who had barely touched his food, was in deep thoughts about his latest dream.

'_A dimension between this world and the spirit world…_' he took a spoonful of stew and ate it, '_Who would've ever thought such a thing existed?_'

"Zuko?"

Looking up, he saw Katara looking at him strangely "Are you still feeling strange? You have barely touching your food." She placed a hand on his forehead, determining his temperature; "Well you don't have a fever…" she trailed off, "Are you still thinking about that dream you just had?" Standing up she walked over to Sokka and Teo who have already finished their dinner, then taking their bowls to go and clean.

Aang stood up with is finished meal and smiled sweetly at the waterbender, "Ah, Katara! Let me help you out!"

"Twinkletoes…" a dark annoyed voice ran shivers down everyone's spines, everyone except for Aang turned to look at Toph with a terrified look on their faces, "I hope you have not already _forgotten_ that we were to finish our incomplete conversation?"

Katara quickly snatched Aang's bowl out of his hands, "Aang," she laughed nervously, "I think this conversation you were having with Toph is _very important_." She eyed him sharply, "Get that over with then you may help me out with the dishes." She quickly walked out of the man-made cave to head to the riverbank that was not too far away from their camp.

Sokka stood up and stretched along with a long wide yawn, "Well I'm just going to scout the area for enemies, he swung his boomerang and his sword over his shoulder, "Anyone wants to come?" Teo raised his hand eagerly, Haru stood up and walked out of the cave, "I'm going to riverbank with Katara."

"Alright!" Sokka glanced at Teo, "It's time for the genius inventors to check out safety!" the young inventor gasped, "Oh yeah, thanks for reminding me Sokka, I needed you to help me out finishing this new project I'm working on, I think it will be helpful for the next invasion!" Teo quickly wheeled over to Appa to grab his materials.

Sokka looked over his shoulder to glance at Zuko, "Yo, your highness! Would you like to join us?"

The firebender looked up and shook his head, getting up from his seat he glanced at Sokka, "I need a quiet place for a bit." Sokka looked at him strangely; Zuko shrugged and shot the Water Tribe warrior a weak smile, "I just have a lot on my mind." Carrying his bowl, he left the cave to wonder off somewhere else.

"Whatever." He turned to Teo, "Got your stuff?"

The inventor grinned, "Yep! Let's go!"

As soon as they left the cave, there was nobody else around other than Toph and Aang who just stood facing at each other in silence.

"Aang." Toph began slowly, "I just spare your time a bit with me alright?" her voice turned into a whisper, "There are a few things that I still haven't had the time to teach you."

The air monk eyes widen, "There are things that I still have not learnt?"  
Toph scowled and threw a small stone at his head, "Of course stupid! And one of the things you still have to learn is Metalbending!" she looked at him sharply, "Metalbending is a new technique for us, earthbenders. This will be giving us a huge advantage because our enemy doesn't realize that we have the potential to something that is pretty much impossible for most earthbenders."

"Are you suggesting that because you expect that most regular earthbenders don't sense vibrations?" Aang asked in an annoyed tone, "Are you suggesting that regular earthbenders are weak?"

The Blind Bandit blinked trying to get the information correctly into her head, her expression changed before he could blink, "Since when did _I suggest_ that regular earthbenders are _weak_?" she shouted out furiously, "I _said_ that it's pretty much impossible when they don't _realize_ that such a technique exists!" she balled her fists, "Jeez, are you just looking for an excuse to go off with your mommy!"

Aang snapped, "_Excuse me_? Who are you suggesting is my mom!?"

Toph glared at him, "Sugar-Queen obviously! Who else takes care of the group other than Zuko?!" she crossed her arms over her stomach leaning back slightly, "Why? You don't believe that Katara is practically acting like our mothers because there is nobody else to keep everyone together and that takes care of all of our responsibilities and mistakes!"

The avatar growled, before shouting out angrily, "Well I don't see her as my mother!" he balled his fists and yelled out furiously, "_I am in love with Katara_!"

Toph was quiet for a minute, before stating quietly, "I think the entire group already knows that." She looked at him with a sharp frown plastered on her face, "But answer my question," she hesitated for a second before asking, "Do you know if Katara is on the _same page_ about her feelings towards you as you feel towards her?"

"Same page?" the airbender asked, "Are you joking? I already know we are! I _know_ that we have the_ same _feelings for each other!" he snorted, then said without thinking, "Not like someone that is _blind _and has the _attitude_ and _appearance_ as a _stubborn boy_!"

As if sharp knives pierced Toph's heart like fire, the feeling of hurt and anger was killing her on the inside, on the outside she stood there and snapped, struggling holding back the tears of her hurt feelings, "Well then. Believe that if you want to, but don't come crying to me if your illusion of your _happily ever after romance_ doesn't come true." She walked towards him slowly; she stopped beside him continuing to look at the entrance of the cave, not once she looked at him, "Oh yeah by the way…" she paused, "You better not blame others if you are proven wrong." She walked out leaving him along in the cave.

Exiting the cave Toph walked away from the entrance before breaking into a dash, running away from the camp.

* * *

"Princess."

Azula looked over her shoulder and looked at a young servant girl, "Your father wishes to speak to you." She bowed once, "He will be waiting for you in his chambers."

The Fire Nation Princess stared at the girl for a long time before nodding, "Of course." Just as she walked by the child, there way a tug on her skirt, she stopped and looked down, "What is it?" she scowled, '_You are damn lucky that you aren't one of those people who I would intend to burn immediately if they had touched me!_' she screamed in her head.

"Princess Azula," she looked around before whispering, "Please be careful."

The firebender looked at the child in confusion, "What are you talking about?" She kneeled down to be the same level of height with the little girl, "What do you mean by that?"

The girl looked about once again before whispering into her ear, "There is a suspicious person in the palace."

Azula looked at her with a serious expression, "Have you mentioned this to my father?"

The child shook her head rapidly, "Forgive your highness, but I fear the Fire Lord." Her voice trembled, as she spoke.

Azula sighed, '_Well, she is an honest kid alright; at least she is trying to be polite about Dad_.' Standing up she looked at the child, "What's your name? Are you new here?"

The child did not smile instead she bowed, "Mika Majurva, I am temporally taking over my mother's tasks while she rests at home."

"Is she sick?" Azula asked, the child nodded before replying, "I may be young, but I am trying my best not to be in anyone's way." A small smile appeared on her face, "Besides, enough of me wasting your time, you should hurry to your father before he gets upset!" she bowed before hurrying off to her next task.

"Mika huh…" Azula repeated to herself quietly before making her way to her father's chamber, "And a suspicious person…" she sighed, "I wish there were more details to it."

* * *

Kneeling by the riverbank, Katara and Haru were scrubbing the bowl and the pot clean in silence. Only the soft whistling of the light, cool breeze swept by them, blowing their loose bangs into their faces.

"Haru?"

"Yeah?"

"What encouraged you to have a mustache?"

Haru stopped and looked at Katara, "Pardon me?"

Katara looked at him and laughed nervously, "Ah, never mind, never mind, it was a stupid question anyways." She turned back to the water and continued to scrub the bowls one by one.

The earthbender blinked before looking at the reflection of himself in the river, and stared at himself for a real long time, he looked at Katara, "Does it look bad?"

Katara shook slightly and craned her neck with a nervous smile on her face, "Uh...um…I guess it would call it strange…" she quickly turned back to focus cleaning the bowl, "But just because I said something ridiculous about it, doesn't mean you have to get rid of-," she turned and saw Haru starting to shave the mustache off, "-it." She stopped dumfounded, '_He must be much more sensitive that I thought…_'

Katara looked up at the hills where the sun was setting, '_What a nice view we have here, even though we are sitting at the bottom of a hill._' The waterbender giggled to herself, as Haru glanced at her for a second before continuing his mustache removal.

Katara stood up and picked up her half of the finished bowls, "I'm just going to bring these back to the-," she stopped as she spotted Toph running over the hills away from the camp. Something told her that there was something terribly wrong with Toph.

Putting down the bowls she looked at Haru, "-actually I need to just check something out, I'll be right back!"

Haru turned his head quickly, "Wait, what-OW!"

* * *

Out in the middle of the fields, as the cool breeze swept upon the former Fire Nation Prince, the firebender meditated, hoping that he could somehow contact the unknown _thing_, and receive a bit more information.

Opening his eyes he rustled his hair and groaned, "This is hopeless…" taking a heavy sigh he closed his eyes again and returned to his meditating position, '_Maybe I should try and relax a bit…_'

'_Zuko._'

His eyes snapped open, and looked around.  
There was nobody there.  
After scanning the area for a good long minute, he finally closed his eyes again.

'_Zuko, can you hear me?"_

'_Am I hearing things?" _Zuko thought to himself unconsciously.

'_Good you can hear me.'_

'_Wait, I was supposed to hear that!?'_

'_YES!'_

'_Oh…Wait, you're that mysterious thing!'_

_The voice growled, 'Oh great, now I'm a thing.'_

_Zuko shrugged, 'Well since you wouldn't tell me who you are, I guess this is part of the results of consequence.'_

'_Anyways, I'm glad that you were able to figure out a new way for us to communicate.'_

Zuko snorted as he said outloud, "Well you left me off with a bunch of questions, and you said there was a time limit to that weird other dimension thing."

'_Well at least you aren't as stupid as the other one believes you are.'_

"What do you mean by the other one?"

'_My brother.'_

"Who is he?"

'_My brother.'_

"No, no, I mean his name."

'_Classified.'_

Zuko frowned with an annoyed look on his face, "I'm just going to guess right now that half of my questions are all going to be answered as _Classified_, right?"

'I'll try an answer most of your questions.'

"Very well, then; are you human, spirit, or a something I've never heard of."

'_Classified.'_

"What about your age?"

'_Classified.'_

"Name?"

'_I have already told you I cannot answer that.'_

"Your color!"

'_Favorite color?'_

"No, color of skin or whatever."

'_Hair color?'_

"Maybe that too." Zuko sighed as he slouched his shoulders a bit before straightening his pose again.

'_Classified.'_

"Is that all you could say?"

'_Okay then…: Secret.' _The voice snickered quietly, obviously trying to suppress its laughter.

"Are you treating this like a game!?" Zuko shouted angrily.

'_Well because I can't answer half of your questions, I suppose that I could consider this as a game.'_

"Alright, just answer this one question: Are you male or female?"

There was a long minute of silence, that is before the voice had began to crack up, _'Classified! Oops, no, I mean it's a Secret!'_

"God! You really think this is a game!" Zuko shouted out angrily as flames erupted from his balled up fists.

'_No, it's just that it was a stupid question!_' the voice continued laughing hysterically.

"Just shut up."

"Zuko."

"WHAT!?" he shouted angrily, as he jumped to his feet just as cold water dumped on top of him.

Snapping his eyes open, he saw an annoyed waterbender standing before him, "Katara?!"

"Yeah, uh…What's your problem? Having a difficult conversation with yourself?" she looked at him strangely, "Talking to yourself in the middle of a field…" she snorted sarcastically, "I didn't think that you were this lonely."

Zuko blinked before quickly turning his back to Katara and shook his fist, muttering under his breath, "That damn bastard…"

"Oh! So now you are insulting me?" Katara snapped, placing one hand resting on her hip, leaving the other one hanging.

Zuko spun around and waved his arms in the air wildly, "No! No! It's just that I'm…uh…"

'_She's going to think that you totally lost it.'_ The voice snickered in the background.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!?" Zuko shouted angrily.

"Excuse me?" Katara snapped, "Now you are telling me to-,"

"No! No! It's going to sound crazy but I'm having a conversation with that weird voice in my dreams right now! And it is driving me into insanity!"

"Really?" Katara answered in a sarcastic tone, "You actually expect me to believe that." She turned her back to Zuko and sighed, "I guess you haven't seen Toph since you were too busy talking to yourself." She looked over her shoulder, glancing at him; he looked back at her, "Toph is missing?"

"Not missing, but she ran off somewhere." Katara turned to face Zuko again, "I ran into Sokka and Teo just a minute ago, they said that there is an island not to far from here." She held her hands behind her back and leaned down slightly, "And they told me that there is a festival that is going to be held there." She smiled slightly, "Sokka likes festivals mainly because of the food." She looked at him, "Luckily it's-,"

'_Zuko, ask her where is the festival being located.'_ The voice suddenly became serious again.

"-so that way we can easily move around the village without too much to worry about!" she finished.

"Uh Katara? Did they happen to mention where the festival is being hosted at?"

Katara tapped her chin, "Um…It's an island…" she paused then smiled, "_Ember Island!_"

* * *

"AH! I CAN'T BELIEVE I SAID THAT TO TOPH!" Aang cried out in exasperation, "THAT WAS SO CRUEL OF ME! HOW COULD I APOLOGIZE AFTER SAYING SOMETHING SO-,"

"Hey Aang, Teo got ya something!"

"I AM SO STUPID! AM I REALLY THE AVATAR!?"

"Uh Aang?"

"I AM REALLY GOING TO REGRET IT IF SHE ENDS UP MISSING!"

"What are you talking about?"

"WHAT SHOULD I DO? WHAT SHOULD I DO?" he paced the room, "AH! I know, I will get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness, and allow her to torture me as much as she likes!"

"Uh, hey, Aang! Hello?"

"If she wants me to be her slave for a week, I will gladly do so!"

"What is he talking about?" Teo asked Sokka who just shrugged hopelessly.

"If she wants to put me through treacherous training! I shall endure the punishment!"

"Hey guys! Where do you want me to put the bowls?"

"Ah yeah over there on the left hand side of Appa's saddle." Sokka answered as he pointed over to Appa.

"Oh! God! I need to somehow make up for my mistake!"

Haru stared at Aang along with the others, "What's going on with him?

Sokka shrugged, "That's what we are trying to find out."

"I know! I will get her flowers!" he turned to Sokka, "Sokka! Please fetch me the finest flowers around!"

The three boys eyebrows twitched from Aang's stupidity act, "He totally lost it."

"Oh Toph! Forgive me so!"

"Oh great, now he's trying to come up with a Haiku!" Sokka muttered under his breath, then suddenly shouted, "HEY WAIT! THAT'S MY TALENT! DON'T STEAL MY UNIQUE SKILL!"

"Unique skill?"

"Unique talent?"

Haru and Teo glanced at each other with stupid looks on their faces, "I think if we stay around here any longer, we're going to lose it as well."

"OH! GOD! WHAT SHOULD I DO!? WHAT SHOULD I DO!?"

* * *

The door creaked as it was closed behind as the princess entered her father's chamber; she stood there waiting for him to tell her why he called her there in the first place.

Standing by the fire, Ozai turned around to face his daughter, "Azula, I have some pleasant news that you will be eager to hear."

"And what could that be?" she took a seat on a fine wooden bench, with a blood rust red colored silk cushions on top of it, "Come on spit it out. You said that I will be excited about it."

Ozai smirked slightly, "I had come up with a new form of government."

Azula frowned, "What do you mean by that?"

Ozai walked up to his daughter and placed a hand on her shoulder, "I am going to make you the Fire Lord."

'Fire Lord?' she looked at him, "Wait, you are already retiring!?" she stood up, "Do you fear the Avatar that much!?"

Ozai snorted, "A child that is a 12 years old, I would _never_ fear such a thing." he turned back to the fire, and glanced up at a portrait above the fireplace, his lips curled into a deadly smirk, "You will be Fire Lord, while I move up to the highest and most powerful status of all!"

Azula looked at him with a frown on her face, "What would be higher than a Fire Lord's rank?"

Ozai turned to face her again, "_The Phoenix Lord_!"

* * *

The evening was cool, but the sky was clear.  
The stars sparkled brightly, as the moon glowed pure white.  
The breeze was almost to light to feel, but it was still able to give someone goosebumps.

"Your highness?" Yuuko glanced at his princess, who had an emotionless expression on her face.

Azula approached her new friend and sat down beside him, she leaned against him as she asked softly, "Hey Yuuko…" she paused, "Do you think I am ready to be Fire Lord?"

Her partner look at her studying her uncertain expression, he looked back at the sky, "I believe that will depend on yourself, how much confidence you have, stepping up for a new challenge without fear." He stopped as the teenager hugged his arm, "Have you ever heard of a _Phoenix Lord_?"

Yuuko looked at her sharply, "No, I have not."

Azula was quiet, "It makes me wonder…what's the point of having a Phoenix Lord and a Fire Lord, and who is going to control what…" she whispered, "It makes me wonder that he's just changing the name because he feels too overconfident that he's going to succeed world domination."

He snorted as the response, "I didn't think I'd hear such a thing from someone who was always favored by the Fire Lord."

"_Phoenix Lord_." She corrected him, although it almost sounded as if she had venom in her mouth.

He snorted once more, "I don't think it has to do about him being overconfident…" he paused studying his princess's face, "But personally, it sounds like, as if he's depending on you to stop the Avatar from reaching him." He sighed, "After all, the Avatar _was_ told that he had to beat the _Fire Lord_ not the _Phoenix Lord_." Yuuko stared up at the stars, "I think he's testing your strength or rather because he believes that you are strong enough to defeat the Avatar yourself, he doesn't want to waste his energy on some little kid that isn't worth his time."

"Unfortunately it will be _worth _his time." She muttered under her breath, "Or rather, it wouldn't matter was position he's in, or social rank; if he won't face the Avatar, he would most likely face _Zuko_, who would consider is as a rematch."

Yuuko looked at Azula for a long time before looking back at the stars.  
The two of them sat there in silence, in the middle of deep thoughts.

* * *

"Ember Island?" Zuko looked away; Katara immediately knew there was something about the island that Zuko didn't like about it.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"No, it's nothing." He looked up and pulled up a weak smile, "We can stay at my family's vacation home, it is right by the beach."

The master waterbender studied him, and decided to change her original question before asking, "Vacation home?"

He nodded slowly before replying, "It has been passed down the Royal Family for generations." He laughed quietly, "I can't exactly imagine just how old it is…" he shrugged, "Well whatever."

'_Ember Island.' _The voice repeated in a low tone of voice.

'_What is it?'_ Zuko was careful not to speak out loud again, _'What about the island?'_

'_I'll talk to you later, I wanted to think about something for a bit, excuse me please.'_

"Be glad to excuse yourself." Zuko said in a pleased tone, as he unconsciously spoke out loud once more.

Katara just stared at him and frowned, but had quickly decided to push it aside, "Anyways, back on to the main topic." she paused to see if the firebender was paying attention, "I wonder where Toph ran off to…"

He looked at her, then around the field, "Do you know why she ran off?"

She shrugged with a hopeless look on her face, "I have no idea." She sighed heavily, "If we are lucky, she'll be back at the camp already." Lifting her chin up to look at the pale, dark blue evening sky, she smiled slightly, "It's a nice here isn't it." She said softly before turning her head slightly to Zuko who looked up at the sky as well, "It really makes you feel like there is no war going on in the world." He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, "Sometimes I wish that time could stop like this forever,"

Katara glance at Zuko who had a soft smile on his face, which had made the waterbender blush lightly. She quickly looked away and clapped her cheeks, trying to make the blush go away, '_Ugh! Why am I blushing!?_'

Glancing at the moon that was glowing beautifully, the waterbender smiled slightly before whispering softly to herself, "It's really too bad that Toph is blind…" she turned to Zuko, "We should head back to camp before everyone gets worried."

He opened his eyes and glanced at her nodding, then wordlessly walked past her. She as well followed behind him in silence.

* * *

A flame waved calmly in the middle of darkness.  
Heavy footsteps echoed the dark area softly.  
Golden eyes stared across the fire into another set of sharp golden eyes.  
"So, you decided to pay me a visit?"  
"No, if that is what you believe."  
"Then why are you here?"  
"I decided to merely ask you one simple question."  
"Ah, how strange. I never thought that my own brother, who has such desires to spill my blood, wants _me_ out of the entire clan to answer your question."

There was a snort from the other side of the flame, "You will be surprised to hear this as well." There was a pause, "You might as well take this as for granted."

The area immediately became silent, "Well then, this must be something _unexpected_."

"Indeed."

"Alright, we know that we don't have all night. Just get to the point already."

There was another moment of silence.

There was a sharp breath, "Have you ever heard of a _Phoenix Lord_?"

**To be Continued…

* * *

**

**A/N:** AND THAT IS WHERE I WILL LEAVE YOU PEOPLE FOR THIS CHAPTER!

Ah, things are getting intense, the action is just starting to warm up….or rather just starting to climb the crazy mountain of the major climax of Escaping the Fire!

Please forgive me if you had gotten confused during the conversations, if a good percentage of people say that it is confusing, I will quickly edit this once more and add some changes to make it much easier to understand.

**Anyways, let's talk about Toph and Aang:**

Yeah…I think Aang acted a little Out of Character…Although, personally that is how I would picture him for his feelings towards Katara, (Because he is madly in love with her)! **IN MY PERSPECTIVE!**

**Also, I made him say some harsh things unconditionally.  
That's why I made a whole paragraph about him trying to find a way to beg for forgiveness. (I wanted that to be the comedy part of this chapter. I thought it was funny, I hope you did too.)**

**Zuko and ….VOICE (**_**Thingy**_**):**

Okay, I think that was the main humor of the chapter. I wanted to create a development between Zuko's visions/dreams so that it could make things a lot more interesting and humorous.

Although, I am not so certain if it made too much sense for certain people…I am somewhat unstatified about it…I don't know why though. Laughs nervously If you tell me it's fine (TELL THE TRUTH), I will certainly feel stratified with myself again about that specific part.

**Haru and Mustache:**

Honestly god, I am already having an enough difficult time trying to picture Zuko Haru with a mustache, even though I know how he looks already…but…IT'S JUST DRIVING ME INTO INSANITY!

So I made Katara encourage him indirectly to shave his mustache off! Celebrates

**Sokka and Teo:**

Yes they have created the ultimate weapon for Aang.  
You will probably find out more about it in a few chapters, or even the next chapter, depending on the situation!

Oh yeah and that Haiku thing I made Sokka comment about, _(I actually don't know much about haiku ...or I think that's what it is called...) _

**Azula and Yuuko:**

Ah! It was a bit romantic in a way….cough okay I'm thinking too much, I suppose it was a rather touching moment between them. Squeal But just wait you guys! You'll love him when you discover his true identity! **(Hint: He's Handsome!)**

**WARNING: Hints may not be always true. ; P**

**Azula and Mika:  
**Things will get interesting between them.

**New Maid at the Palace?**  
Could she be the suspicious person lurking around the palace?

And Finally:

**The Phoenix Lord!**

I want this story to tie in with the original as much as possible, even though we had not seen all of the new episodes yet!

And that's it for now!

**Please Review! I love it when you do!**

Hj: Thank you for your apologizes. I appreciate it.

PS: I AM HAVING A MAJOR AVATAR MARATHON ON JULY 18TH WITH MY FRIEND! WE ARE GONNA WATCH FROM SEASON 1 TO SEASON 3! WE ARE GOING TO BE SCREAMING LIKE MAD FAN-GIRLS!

Ah, ha, I just felt like announcing that.

_**Chapter 17  
Coming Soon!**_


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

_A flame waved calmly in the middle of darkness.  
Heavy footsteps echoed the dark area softly.  
Golden eyes stared across the fire into another set of sharp golden eyes.  
"So, you decided to pay me a visit?"  
"No, if that is what you believe."  
"Then why are you here?"  
"I decided to merely ask you one simple question."  
"Ah, how strange. I never thought that my own brother, who has such desires to spill my blood, wants me out of the entire clan to answer your question."_

There was a snort from the other side of the flame, "You will be surprised to hear this as well." There was a pause, "You might as well take this as for granted."

_The area immediately was silence, "Well then, this must be something unexpected."_

"_Indeed."_

"_Alright, we know that we don't have all night. Just get to the point already."_

_There was another moment of silence._

_There was a sharp breath, "Have you ever heard of a Phoenix Lord."_

* * *

"The Phoenix Lord? Do you not mean the Phoenix Empire?'

"That sort of thing exists?"

"No…or maybe so…I'm actually not quite sure about that." There was a moment of silence before the conversation started up again, "But the Phoenix Lord…I suppose it is a new form of government…" the voice trailed off, "Do you have any further details?"

There was a snort from the other side of the fire, "Her highness told me minor details." There was a sigh from the opposite side, "And so you came to me to see if I knew anything."

"That is correct."

"Yuuko-,"

"Since when did I tell you to address me by my name-,"

"My apologizes then." The voice interrupted sharply, then closed its eyes before opening them again, returning to the original topic the conversation began once more, "As I have just said; I suppose it could be a new form of government." There was a sharp inhale before Yuuko frowned suspiciously, "You have not been summoned yet…have you?"

There was a smirk hidden in the darkness from across the fire, "Now, now, just because I am not summoned yet, doesn't mean that I'm growing weaker."

"We guardians will die if we are not summoned according to the schedule."

"Who needs schedules? I still don't understand why they would discard us because someone couldn't complete a given mission."

"It's not by the matter of being discarded; it's the matter of _the fact _we would be killed if our chosen ones cannot complete their task successfully." There was a quick change of attitude, "As for you, who just happens to be _wise_ enough to wait patiently and stay hidden." There was a hint of annoyance in Yuuko's voice, "Other wise I would've killed you by now."

The other one laughed without humor, "As if you could find me with that terrible sense of direction."

Yuuko just growled and snapped, "I could kill you-," the guardian paused to rephrase his thoughts, "-the next time we finally encounter each other again, that is if the princess allows me to do so." he corrected quickly.

"Ah!" cried out the other one sarcastically, "Did your princess order you to hold back the urge to kill me? What a _sweet_ girl!"

"It's not that either." He snapped angrily, "Princess Azula wants to _witness _and _be_ the one who _kills _two birds with one stone."

"Do you not mean by: One Strike of Lightning?" the other guardian snickered.

Yuuko grinded his teeth against each other, "Are you seriously that desperate to get yourself killed?"

"Isn't it just natural for us _siblings_ to provoke each other?" the other one answered innocently.

"Why did I even come to you!?" Yuuko snapped to himself.

There was a light chuckled across from him, "Well, you came to ask me a question, and I couldn't answer it knowing it was solid information of the truth, but I did tell my theory, which should, or rather could be close or related to the answer."

"Well then I suppose that is the end of the theory? If so, I'm getting out of here." Turning to leave he stopped by a sudden serious reply, "Indeed I am done with my theory, however; since I gave you an exclamation of your question, now you need to exchange a theory or fact with me."

Yuuko looked over his shoulder and took a heavy sigh as he turned to face the now calm and serious golden eyed sibling who had quickly added, "Actually I have two questions, but the second one is an optional one…"

"Just spit it out already, I've already wasted enough time here." He snapped coldly.

"If I am correct about the fact that the Phoenix Lord is a new form of government…" once again there was a sharp inhale from the other guardian, "Is it possible or rather is it _true_ that Prince Zuko's birthright will or maybe already have been _revoked_, and Princess Azula will be the next in line for the throne as well becoming the Representative Government of Advisory for the Phoenix Lord and become Fire Lord, or rather Fire Lady by taking over her father's previous social rank?"

"That…" Yuuko trailed off, "…Is a very difficult question to answer…" he stopped to think, "Azula did mention something about herself becoming Fire Lord…" he paused to confirm his thoughts, "So I suppose that would mean that Prince Zuko's birthright will, or probably already _have_ been revoked." He looked into the soft golden eyes across him, "And for your second question?"

There was a deep breath, then an exhale, the voice said the question softly, "If I were the one to become successful of this task we were given, and I chose not to kill you. Would you still have desires to kill me anyways?"

Yuuko looked away to the side and replied quietly; "I suppose you were right about how this question cannot be answered right away…" he trailed off before finishing, "I believe we will find out when the time comes for whoever's life at stake." He walked further into the darkness and disappeared from the other's eyes, who blew into the fire softly with a whisper echoing the area, "Of course, I could not agree more with your answer."

And the flame was blown out.

* * *

The camp was noisy when the firebender and the waterbender returned to the camp, only to find Aang down on his knees blabbering to himself, while Sokka, Haru and Teo all just watched him as if he needed a therapist. Haru laws first to notice Katara's presence, "Ah Katara good time-," he cut short for a second when he saw Zuko behind her before completing his sentence, "-ing…"

"What is it Haru?" she asked as she walked over beside her brother glancing at Aang, "Did something happen while I was gone?"

"I suppose while we were _all_ gone." answered Sokka, without taking his eyes off the air monk, who was now waving his arms in the air exasperatedly.

"Actually, that reminds me…we still haven't seen Toph around." He glanced at his sister, "Have you seen her?"

"Is she not back yet?" the waterbender asked worriedly, "I saw her, but then I lost track of her."

"Should we all look for her?" Teo asked as he glanced up at the night dark, "It's already dark out, it's dangerous to be in an area you do not recognize while."

"Unfortunately, I know it quite well already."

Everyone except for Aang, who was still scolding himself, looked behind them and saw Toph just stood there with her arms crossed. She glanced at Aang and kicked her heel into the ground, and before everyone knew it, Aang was tossed into the air and fell flat onto his face.

"Twinkletoes, you should never have your guard down." She called as the airbender jumped to his feet, his back still facing Toph, "OH GOD! NOW I AM HEARING THINGS! THE SPIRITS REALLY ARE PUNISHING ME!" his body twitched just before he was thrown into the air again, but this time, was thrown to the ground right in front of Toph's feet.

"Jeez, Twinkletoes, who would've thought that the conversation had such impact on you?" she laughed without humor.

Everyone felt a cold shill run down the back of their spines from Toph's humorless laughter.

Aang looked with guilt written all over his face, he looked down and got on to his knees and bowed down to Toph as if she was a princess, "Sifu Toph, the Blind Bandit, the world greatest earthbender, daughter of the Bei Fong family. Please forgive me for all of the terrible things that I have said to you." He wasn't finished just yet, "Any punishment of your choice would be suitable for my disrespectful behavior towards you."

Toph stood there tapping her foot lightly before taking a deep sigh, "Seriously Twinkletoes, you don't have to be so formal with your apologize speeches." She pointed her thumb at Zuko, "And I didn't think that you to consider Sparky as your role model for begging for forgiveness." She snorted, "To make up for what you said, _would _take a lot of time if you weren't an earthbender." She now crossed her arms and demanded, "Look right at me in the eye now."

Aang looked up very slowly, afraid of what was going to happen next.

"But since you _are_ an earthbender, it won't take as long to get me to forgive you, unless you have some other unexpected strategies." She pulled up a devilish smirk, "So in order to make up for what you said, I'm going to put you through some _special_ training plans that I came up with not too long ago." Pivoting her heel she turned to the others, "I just happened to over hear that we were suppose to go to Ember Island was it?"

Aang looked at her then at the others, "Ember Island?"

Sokka nodded, "Well now since everyone here, we can explain it." He cleared his throat before starting, "There is a festival at Ember Island that just happens to be a masquerade one, and it's going to be sort of like the previous festivals we have attended in the past."

"We just need to figure out where we could stay." Teo added, "We were planning to stay at an inn if we have enough silver pieces in hands."

Zuko shook his head, "Silver pieces won't stand a chance for Ember Island's inns. It's a vacation island for most noble and rich merchants. Most ordinary people just go there for the day and head back home by the evening. It's very pricey there."

"Well then, anyone has a back up plan?" Haru asked hopefully.

Zuko was about to reply when Katara quickly beat him to it, "Zuko told me not too long ago that his family has a vacation home on the island." She shot a smile at Zuko, "Right?"

The firebender nodded, "Nobody goes there anymore, so it should be safe. It will also be a good place for Aang to practice his firebending and earthbending."

"Sounds good to me." Toph replied as she nodded.

"Sounds more like a trap to me." Haru hissed under his breath, just barely loud enough for anyone to hear.

Sokka grinned, "Dude, I am so happy that you joined out side!" he wrapped one arms around Zuko, "You are creating our mission so much easier now these days!"

Everyone laughed except for Haru who just glared indirectly at Zuko, while the firebender on the other hand laughed nervously, knowing that the earthbender who never liked him in the first place had high suspicions towards him.

* * *

Azula stood by the fire and watched the flames dance wildly among each other.  
There was a knock on her door that snapped her out of daze, she looked over to the door and frowned as it opened.

The child, Mika who she had met not too long ago bowed down before her, "Excuse me Princess."

Azula turned her head back to face the face, her eyes flashed from the young girl and back at the orange flames, "Your reason here?"

"I believe I have found some information that may interest you." She looked at the princess seriously before closing the door behind her quietly, "It's about the suspicious intruder." She whispered in a serious tone of voice, "I believe that I may have a suspect."

Azula raised an eyebrow before turning her body away from the fireplace and faced the young girl as she tossed her long silky hair over her right shoulder, "Who?"

The girl bowed before replying, "That woman, the one with the long wavy brown hair, hazel eyes, the one who annoyed you when everyone first met your newest companion, Yuuko."

"Ah so you noticed." Azula laughed without humor, it was almost as if it was cold as ice, "Her name?"

"Miana Yioka." She replied, "I got her name and some information behind her." Mika took out a scroll, which caught Azula's interest_, 'I hate to admit it, but she is one impressive kid for a servant that is.'_

"Miana Yioka says that she has always worked in the palace, but the elder servants who worked here for who knows how long said they have never seen her face before 5 Days after the invasion led by the Avatar." Mika stopped for a breath then continued, "Supposedly she is your _father's_ personal servant, Fire Lord Ozai that is.

"Her age is 30, her hometown: is unidentified, she constantly is seen walking out of the Royal Wing that is only permitted to specific servants, as well she does not have the special uniform to prove so, but even so she claims that she has a special task given by the Fire Lord personally, and supposedly answers: that if they do not believe her, they should just ask the Fire Lord himself... " She trailed off laughing nervously, "I don't think anyone would even _dare_ to question the Fire Lord." The girl bowed down deeply, before continuing, "As said, right now I am breaking the rules by coming into this wing without granted permission by you or the Fire Lord, so you have the pleasure to punish me, however I would like to state myself clear that I am only doing this because I care about your safety, even though _most_, when everyone _should_ be well aware of that you are more than capable when it comes to defending yourself." She smiled during the last part, but it quickly disappeared as she closed the scroll, "That is all, your highness."

Azula's lip curled into a smirk, her eyes flashed into the fire with great interest, "Usually I would smoke a servant who is not permitted in the Royal Wing, as you are right now." She looked at Mika expecting a terrified face, except instead, the girl's face was serious as if she already knew the consequences and was prepared to take them.

"However, because you have collected some quite decent, or rather very _detailed_ information; I have no intentions of punishing you." She paused, "But, I will warn you, what you are doing right now is putting your life on the line." The princess looked at the child sharply, "Are you well aware of that?"

"I am willing to put my life first for your sake Princess Azula." She smiled, "Besides, if I do get killed, I will be happy in a way, knowing that you will still be alive, and I have died by doing something so honorable for the Royal Family." She blinked a few times to hide small tears, "But then again, I do have other dreams that I want to chase, and I would probably not have another chance after I die, unless that is; I am reborn into a new era."

Azula's face softened, she quickly turned to the fire and looked over to the desk by the window. Walking over she took out a piece of parchment and a brush and began to write something down before stamping it. She folded the paper and turned to hand it over to Mika, "Here, take this to the head mistress who is in charged of assigning the servants." A small smile appeared on her face, "Don't let any other servants get their hands on this document. Once you hand it to the Mistress, she will probably give you the special uniform that notifies the guards that you are permitted in the wing." She paused and frowned, "By the way just how did you get into the wing without the guards catching you?"

Mika giggled, "My apologizes your highness, I snuck into a cart that storage the cleaning materials, and managed to get around without being caught."

Azula smirked, "Not bad. But now you don't have to sneak around anymore." She ruffled the girl's hair, "Just be careful okay?" her eyes widen slightly as she quickly added just as she caught herself acting completely _different_ from her usual self., "And don't take this to heart, you are considered only as a tool for fetching useful information." She waved her right hand, "You are dismissed."

Mika bowed, "Of course your highness!"

The girl quickly left the room and closed the door behind her quietly.

"That's unexpected of you. Treating a child who is a peasant so nicely. It's so much unlike you Princess."

Azula looked over at Yuuko who glanced at her from the balcony, "I suppose I was being a bit different this time…" she trailed off, then quickly shot him a sharp look, as she snapped, "As I have told the girl, don't take my actions to heart. This time was just different." She looked at hands and glanced back at Yuuko, "However…" she paused, "It's strange…"

"What's strange?" Yuuko frowned with a worried expression on his features,

Azula looked at the fire again, "I…I have this weird feeling in my chest…" she turned to face him, her face had an expression that she had not expressed since she was a very young girl, "Do you know what kind of feeling I am talking about?"

Yuuko looked up at the night sky, "I suppose you are witnessing the feeling of _trust_." He replied, "I'm not quite sure, since I can't exactly put myself in other people's shoes."

"It's different from the way I feel around Tylee and Mai." She protested, "They are my friends...But, I've never felt something like this….and it's definitely not love I know there is a complete different feeling you are supposed to get."

"Where did you learn that from?" he asked without looking at her, his eyes never leaving the evening sky.

Azula looked away from the balcony and climbed into bed without answering.  
He looked back at her to see why she wasn't answering. Instead he watches her pull herself under the covers and extinguishes the fire from the fireplace.

'_Maybe it's something I shouldn't have asked.'_

* * *

The pale light from the awakening sun shined into the young avatar's eyes. The preteen airbender groaned as he pushed himself off the ground and rubbed his eyes. Momo, who slept on his stomach climbed on to his shoulder chirping at him wildly.

"Ugh, what is it Momo?" the airbender yawned as he watched the flying lemur jump off his shoulder and hissed loudly. His tail was up waving around crazily; his paws were digging into the mud.

It wasn't too long until Appa; the giant bison reacted as well.

There was definitely something there.

Or rather someone…

* * *

**End of Chapter 17**

A/N: MUWHAHAHA! ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER! This is just about to get way more exciting! Brace yourselves! The First Duel will be soon!

Ugh, It totally feels like Azula is WAY OC (Out of Character)

Headesks

I am sorry for the slow update and all. LOL. Thanks for your awesome reviews everyone! I have never felt so proud of writing!

**Now let's jump to the Avatar's Finale.**

**Well I have to say one thing: Congratulations Kataangs and Maikos, for your "**_**victory**_**" of canon.**

**And my words for Zutarians: Don't worry, we own Fandom! ;P  
And to my readers: I won't stop writing Avatar Fanfictions anytime soon! **

**Also: My pen-name won't change. My name state is clear: **_**Zutarian4eva!**_

**This story, already had an ending planned to it WAY before the finale aired, and I have no intentions of changing my plans, so the finale doesn't effect it…however…there is ONE specific scene that I want to use…but I'm not sure what…lol…(It's probably not even possible)**

**And finally to notify the people who are getting impatient about the true identities of the**_** Guardians.**_

**I will probably reveal who they are by chapter…what was it…well it's between chapter 20 and 23 :P**


	19. Chapter 18

****

Chapter 18

The pale light from the awakening sun shined into the young avatar's eyes. The preteen airbender groaned as he pushed himself off the ground and rubbed his eyes. Momo, who slept on his stomach climbed on to his shoulder chirping at him wildly.

"Ugh, what is it Momo?" the airbender yawned as he watched the flying lemur jump off his shoulder and hissed loudly. His tail was up waving around crazily; his paws were digging into the mud.

It wasn't too long until Appa; the giant bison reacted as well.

There was definitely something there.

Suddenly, the sound of something sharp and swift, slicing through the air swiped down aiming at the Avatar's feet, as he quickly, though narrowly dodged to attack.

The air monk looked down at the weapons thrown at him, his eyes widen and had immediately adapted to the situation that had once happened before.

The Yuan Archers were here.

The sound of the arrows slicing through the forest ahead of them already had woken up the others from their deep sleep. Katara was already on her two feet withdrawing water from the plants around them, and forming them into spikes and thrown it gracefully, but dangerously at their foes.

Toph, Aang and Haru swiftly made a stone wall between them and the forest, giving them just enough time to grab their things and flee on Appa.

However, not everything went as planned.

The wall did not stand up long, within a minute it was already blown into smithereens. Toph had to quickly take control of the flying stones while Aang took care of the leftovers.

Zuko and Sokka quickly got the young handicapped teenager on Appa's saddle, as Haru fastened their supplies before jumping on.

Sokka quickly took the reins of the flying bison and shouted, "COME ON! LET'S HURRY BEFORE WE GET BLOWN UP!"

It didn't take long before the second wall was blown up like the first. The others quickly leapt on to Appa, as the flying bison launched himself into the sky.

More arrows gracefully flew out from the forest's canopy, leaving the waterbender and young airbender to watch the bison's back.

Zuko who was the most concerned about the ambush; furrowed his eyebrows studying the arrows that flew at them dangerously before demanding, "Aang, Katara, I want one of the arrows!"

Sokka looked over his shoulder and shouted back in an annoyed tone, "Now is not the time to get souvenirs!"

The airbender didn't quite understand what Zuko wanted, but the prodigy waterbender certainly did. It only took her a few seconds before she withdrew out of thin air and caught a sample of their foe's weapon with her icicle rope.

Appa took off even higher into the sky and above the clouds for self defense. By then, it was safe to say that they could relax a bit; however, it seems that instead of relaxing, the gang was caught off guard when Katara revealed a water technique that she had not shown before them.

Everyone stared at her as she took the frozen arrow and handed to Zuko as he wished. Sokka frowned, "You learned that move from Hama didn't you."

It was Katara's turn to frown back at her brother, "Other than that deadly _trick _she forced me to learn, she had some pretty advanced waterbending techniques that Master Pakku did not teach me…or rather some things that he himself as a master may not know of."

Teo, Haru and Zuko stared at Katara, "What trick?"

The others sat there quietly, Katara shifted her gaze, her eyes were glued to the clouds beneath them, "I'll tell you guys some other time."

"Eh? Why not? Waterbending _can't_ kill." Haru protested.

The group glared at him darkly. It was only then when he realized that he said something very, _very_ stupid.

Zuko was first to comment, "All of the elements have a negative use when it comes to bending." He glared at the earthbender, "What makes you think that _water_ isn't something to be afraid of?"

Haru was about answer but was cut off quickly, as Zuko continued in an annoyed tone of voice, "Is it because it keeps us alive? It heals, and creates miracles?" he snorted, "Or supposedly because it is not always used as an advantage against the world like how the Fire Lord intends to use it?" he laughed sarcastically, "Do you really think that water, is the only element that has only positive side effects rather than negative?"

Haru scowled, '_Jeez, and he supposedly knows all about the Water Tribe and waterbenders? He's from the Fire Nation, not only that but a firebender. He talks as if he is one!_' he snorted, "Tell me _Zuko_," he sneered, as he spat the former prince's name as if it was the most disgusting thing in the world, "Just what does a _firebender_ know about _waterbenders_?" he snorted as he crossed his arms over his chest, an overly confident sprint was plastered on his face, "I mean seriously, water is not fire."

It was Zuko's turn to smirk, "Ah, but the fact is that I _do _know a lot about waterbenders, and I can tell you for a fact right now; water _is_ fire."

Haru snorted and laughed without humor, "As if that could be possible!" he glanced at the waterbender who was now watching the discussion, "Am I right Katara?" he glanced at her confidently, "Katara?"

The rest of the gang _(excluding Zuko and Haru)_ just glanced around exchanging looks to each other worriedly. The waterbender had closed her eyes at some point during the discussion between the firebender and the earthbender; instead of answering, she opened her eyes that were already downcast at her knees and said nothing.

As if Zuko could read through her, he turned to the earthbender and slowly began again, "Haru." He took a deep sigh before calmly but in a serious tone, he asked, "Have you ever heard of Yin Yang?"

The earthbender snorted, "Of course. Yin represents a dark, negative and Yang is symbolizes a positive, light. The two opposites that attract." He paused before asking, "What's your point?'

The former prince looked at him seriously, "Tell me, what is the opposite of earth?" this made Toph and Aang glance at each other as a piece of memory from the first time Aang was learning earthbending flashed back to them. They looked at each other, then at Zuko and Haru.

"Air." He answered simply.

"Then what is the opposite of water." The firebender asked sharply waiting for an answer.

Haru was quiet and frowned, "Fire." He looked at Katara, "And what does the opposite elements have to do with each other?"

"As you just said a second ago. Opposite attracts." Zuko said slowly, "But let's focus on the word: _Opposite_." His lips curled slightly, "Would you care to define that for us?"

The earthbender snorted, "I still don't get your point." He looked at him with an annoyed expression on his face, "I know, why not you define it instead. Wouldn't that make our lives easier?"

Zuko nodded, "Very well." He quickly made a fire ball appear bouncing on his palm, "Do you pay attention to your opposite element?" he asked first as Haru shrugged, "Why would I?"

Zuko sighed heavily, muttering under his breath, "_He's hopeless_." Closing his fist, he fireball vanished. His eyes shifted over to the quiet waterbender, "Katara." He began slowly, "Would you agree for a friendly match between us two to show Haru the true meaning of what I'm trying to say?"

Katara looked up, her gaze was caught by the firebender's pierce golden eyes, a serious expression was expressed on her features, "That sounds interesting." A small smirk appeared, "Very well, I agree to this duel."

**End of Chapter 18**

* * *

A\N: ARG! I know! Short chapter! Ugh! As you can see I fell into a deep pit and totally went crazy writing all of this….stuff…

And I AM **SO SORRY** ABOUT THIS:

Chapter 17 Ending Comment:

_**A/N: MUWHAHAHA! ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER! This is just about to get way more exciting! Brace yourselves! The First Duel will be soon!**_

Unfortunately, this chapter was not exciting at all. I don't even know why I am posting such a thing as CHAPTER 18!?

Headesks (3x)

**Disclaimer:** Well it's because you had an urge of making Haru's character really stupid.

**A\N: **I hate that guy. I don't even understand why I haven't got rid of him yet….Wait, what does that have to do with this chapter?

**Disclaimer:** Sweat drop You were creating a filler?

**Haru:** Pops out of random I AM NOT THAT STUPID!

**A\N:** murmuring Well you _were_ stupid enough to grow a moustache.

**Haru:** T T …

**Disclaimer:** Um, yeah. Besides, as I just said, this chapter could easily be considered as filler.

**A\N:** THIS IS A FANFICTION! WHAT IS THE POINT OF PUTTING IN A FILLER-,

**Disclaimer:** Interrupts Zutarian4eva So that you can put in a brief foreshadow for your future chapters. Such as…

**A\N:** I should've just combined chapter 19 with this chapter. Does Sokka's Famous Face palm

**Disclaimer:** Well, that part would've ruined the entire chapter. Wouldn't it be better to actually make it separate so that you can add an AMAZING chapter or something like that…?

**Haru:** Yeah, like making me stronger, or swooping Katara into my arms as I save her from Prince Zuko!

**Disclaimer:** Or even better, have him killed. The sooner, the better.

**Haru:** Yeah really.

**Disclaimer:** I'm talking about you _Pretty Boy_.

**Haru:** WHAT!? WHAT ARE YOU DOING! HOW COULD YOU SAY SUCH A THING!?

**A\N:** Hm…that's not a bad idea…Well anyways continue on to Chapter 19, where the real action begins!

Chapter 19

**NOW AVAILIBLE!**


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**Previously on Escaping the Fire**

_Zuko sighed heavily, muttering under his breath, "He's hopeless." Closing his fist, he fireball vanished. His eyes shifted over to the quiet waterbender, "Katara." He began slowly, "Would you agree for a friendly match between us two to show Haru the true meaning of what I'm trying to say?"_

_Katara looked up, her gaze was caught by the firebender's pierce golden eyes, a serious expression was expressed on her features, "That sounds interesting." A small smirk appeared, "Very well, I agree to this duel."_

* * *

It had only been a few hours since the gang arrived at Ember Island. Luckily the weather was good and was the exact reason why they arrived so quickly.

As promised. Katara and Zuko were going to duel to show Haru the true meaning of how dangerous water can be.

However, they were to only duel at midnight that evening, so that they could see the water's true colors.

As Zuko promised, they were going to stay at his vacation home where hopefully, nobody would bother them.

Walking up the hill, Zuko told the group some interesting facts about the island, "…And that is Mount Ember." He pointed to a large, tall mountain, "It's actually a volcano that have not erupted in 100 years." He laughed quietly, "I wonder if it has to do with the avatar at all."

Aang looked at him sharply, "Maybe it does." A hand was suddenly placed on the preteen's shoulder, "Let's just hope it's not." He looked at him seriously, "Because if it does, it will not only cause a problem for the village, but us as well."

Toph studied the water tribe warrior, "Why is that?" she walked past the two boys and beside Zuko, "Simply we got Zuko here. It can't be much of a problem."

"Simply, because he's here, it _will_ be much as a problem." Katara answered, glancing at the firebender, "Am I not wrong?"

Zuko glanced away from the group before taking a deep breath, "I can't be certain. But it has not been too long ago since I came here with my sister and her friends." He looked back at them, "Nobody recognized us as Royalties, and we were simply treated as if we were all the same social rank."

Sokka snickered, "I really can't imagine your sister getting alone with such people."

Zuko's eyes flashed directly at the warrior, "Well, it was certainly an experience for her." He chuckled, "You should've seen how _enthusiastic_ she was when we played against the village's top beach team." There was a silly smile on his face, "It was really…_unique_ I could say."

Haru frowned, "It's even hard believing half of what you are said." He glanced up the hill, "And so where is your _amazing_ vacation home?"

Zuko smirked as he walked up beside him, "Oh don't get me wrong, because you have lived in a _peasant_ society all your life, I wouldn't be surprise if your jaw dropped from the sight of it."

Haru scowled, "Well don't get me wrong! It would be impossible for me to be so amazed of your Fire Nation vacation home."

Zuko's smirk grew wider; "Really?" he led the group a bit higher and then pointed to the house, and before everyone knew it, the earthbender's jaw dropped fast, but it wasn't only him, it was Sokka and Teo as well, "Are you serious! Or is it just me, or I'm seeing illusions!?" Sokka exclaimed as he ran up to the entrance and turned back at his friends who were not too far behind him. The warrior placed his hands on his hips and took in a deep breath of the sweet scent of the cherry blossoms and salt that was carried by the calm breeze of the ocean.

He flashed a grin at Zuko, "This is quite a view Sparky." He patted the former prince's shoulder, "Very impressive."

The others took a moment to look as well, except for Toph who sadly could not see this gorgeous view.

The firebender noticed the Blind Bandit's hidden disappointment and decided to try and cheer her up with something she _can _see, "Ah Toph, I think you will be pretty pleased with the special training grounds that you would be more than welcomed to use for _Aang's Ridiculously Harsh Training._"

The earthbender's ears had almost seem to perk when he mentioned training grounds, a dark sly look quickly replaced her disappointment, "Ooh, show me, show me!" she said this almost…_too_ eagerly.

The avatar swallowed nervously as a cold shiver ran up his spine. He glanced at the waterbender for help. As usual, she did not notice.

Haru, who was still in great daze, was patted on the shoulder by the young teenage inventor, "It seems that you have lost the bet."

The earthbender didn't seem to hear him.

Zuko kicked the doors open and took a step aside, "Well, make yourself a home. I'll just get us some gold pieces to get some supplies." He made his way to the west wing of the royal cottage.

The others, (except for Haru) took a step inside and looked around in awe; Aang took a deep breath, "Wow. This is a real nice place." He laughed nervously, "I can't imagine how the palace looks like."

Katara turned to see if Haru moved at all, she glanced over to her brother and pointed to the shocked earthbender with her thumb, "What should we do with him?"

Sokka shrugged, and waved his hand, "Just leave him there. He'll come back from the spirit world soon enough."

"SPIRIT WORLD?" Aang gasped and spun around to face Sokka, and looked at Haru, "HE'S IN THE SPIRIT WORLD!?"

Katara, Sokka, and Toph exchanged strange looks at each other before Sokka patted the preteen's shoulder, "Aang, I was just joking. Chill out."

Aang took a deep breath, "Oh, sorry." He rubbed the back of his bald head laughing nervously, "Ha, ha…ha..." he trailed off as Zuko finally returned with a bag of silver and gold pieces. He handed it to Katara, "I'm taking a guess that you are the one who usually handles the money." He glanced at the Blind Bandit and the Avatar, "Follow me and I'll show you to your _Special_ Training Arena."

"OH GOODY! IT'S ABOUT TIME!" the blind girl cheered almost _too_ excitedly, while the young avatar looked at Katara for help once more, just hoping that she would notice and somehow tell Toph to spare him.

Indeed Katara had noticed his glance, she smiled at him reassuringly, "Don't worry Aang, just do you best.

Unfortunately, she did _not_ notice him sending her silence pleas for help, and looked at Zuko, "So I take it as you can't go to the village?"

Zuko nodded slowly, "It's better off that I don't attract attention." He looked at Sokka, "If you want to join her, then you will need to change your clothes. They are practically screaming out your nationality." Then he glanced at Katara, "You should be fine since it was my uncle that gave it to you." Turning to Teo he shot him a small smile, "And I guess, Haru, Teo and I will unload the supplies and bring them to your rooms."

"Alright! TIME TO GET FOOD!" it didn't take long before Sokka was now dressed in his fire nation disguise, his sword on his back and his hair tied into a topknot, "Alright Sister, let's go!"

Katara nodded, and so the siblings left the cottage and made their way to the village.

While Haru still stood there in daze.

* * *

A light breeze brushed the princess's face.  
Her eyes closed could picture her surroundings as she meditated.  
Suddenly there was a light, gentle touch on her shoulder.  
Opening her eyes, she turned to see who it was.  
Her eyes dilated with unexplainable emotions building up inside her.  
Was it fury?  
Was it hatred?  
Was it sadness?

No, it was definitely something else.

Something that she had longed for her entire life...

That one thing she longed for…

**"Princess Azula!"**

The princess bolt up straight as she woke up panting heavily.  
Beads of sweat fells down her face, she looked at her surroundings with wide eyes.

"Princess Azula?" a young voice asked again in a worried tone.  
"Your highness?" a mature masculine voice questioned, with a worried tone of voice as well.

Azula turned to her beside and saw Mika and Yuuko staring at her worriedly, "Princess?" they both asked.

Azula looked down at the covers, shaking uncontrollably. The sun had already risen up for noon. The prodigy firebender glanced at her two friends.

'_Friends_.' She thought.

"Princess Azula, you were burning up like crazy. It must be a fever." The young servant girl began worriedly, she looked over at Yuuko, "Or maybe it could be something else?"

Azula looked over to them before collapsing back into her pillows, barely conscious, "What's wrong with me?" she asked as if she did not hear Mika's thoughts.

Yuuko thought for a bit before concluding, "It must be that thing that has to do with your inner turmoil." He hissed under his breath, '_If only I remembered what it was called again…damn it, that'll just give _him_ another reason to laugh at me._'

"Hm, I think I heard of it before…I can't remember what it's called either." Mika replied as she tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Should I call some nurses?" she looked at Yuuko knowing that the princess was clearly already unconscious.

"No." he answered simply, "As if I heard correctly, there are suspicious servants lurking around the palace." The guardian frowned, "It will not be suitable for us to take such a risk." He took a heavy sigh, "And I suppose that should include the Fire Lord." He looked at Mika with a serious look on his face, "But I fear the consequences of hiding it from him."

Mika pulled the covers over Azula and pulled up a stool beside the bed and cleaned the princess's sweat covered face, as she answered, "I fear the same thing as you." She turned to him, with a smile, "You really do care for our princess."

Yuuko looked away, "It's all part of my duty."

The child giggled, "Right, it's _only_ all part of your duty." She paused, "My mother is almost better, so I will eventually have to return home to take care of my siblings."

"How many do you have?" the guardian asked unconsciously.

Mika smiled sweetly, "Seven." A small giggle escaped from her lips, "I'm the fourth eldest child of the family." She looked back at the princess, "Usually I would be the one taking care of my brothers and sisters, but right now my eldest brother came home to take care of my mother and the rest of the family, while the others continue with their jobs." She soaked the cloth once more, "Of course, it was an option to work here in my mother's place. It's just that I didn't want her to lose her job." She looked over to Yuuko, "My dad is out fighting in the war along with my second and third eldest siblings." Then she quickly added, "They are both firebenders, and they have are only 15, and 14." She smiled sadly, "I hope that they will come home safe…" she stopped dabbing the princess's face and neatly folded her hands on her knees, "And then I have the last three siblings, ages 10, 6 and 3."

"And just how old are you?" Yuuko asked, now looking at the young girl.

The servant girl smiled sweetly, "I will be turning 13 next month." She laughed nervously, "I know that because of my height, it's hard to believe that I am actually a twelve years old."

Yuuko stared at her, "I thought you were 8, but then when you told me about your family I figured that you must've been 11."

The girl picked up the bowl and placed it on the trolley laughing quietly, "You were close though." She packed up the rest of the things and made her way to the door looking over her shoulder, "Yuuko, I am depending on you to protect the princess." She said seriously as she opened the door and left the room to continue the rest of her duties.

The guardian glanced away from the door and back at the princess who was now coughing and tossing in her sleep. He sighed heavily, '_I just hope the princess herself, won't create a ruckus._'

* * *

The two Water Tribe siblings were enjoying their time easily picking up supplies, without having to worry too much about their appearance.

Luckily, a lot of people were tanned, so their skin color was not going to be in the center of attention.

Walking past the new bulletin, Katara and Sokka both stopped to look at it. It was an announcement about the festival, but the other announcement caught Sokka's attention big time.

Snatching the parchment off the board he laughed and pointed to the paper, "Katara! Look at this! Can you believe it!?" he looked at the parchment excitedly, "We MUST see this!"

Katara took the advertisement and looked at it strangely, "Avatar the Last Airbender…performed by the Ember Island Players." She sighed, "To be honest, I have no interest of watching someone make a joke about us."

Sokka pouted, "How would you know about such a thing."

Katara crossed her arms, "Why not ask _Sparky_ about that." She looked at the festival parchment once more, "But this, won't be too much of a problem. We can probably go to this." Rolling the poster up she slipped it into her bag and pulled her brother by the wrist, "Come on, we need to continue getting some more supplies for dinner tonight."

Sokka suddenly stopped in front of a store and glanced at Katara with a sly smirk, "Come on Katara. I know you want to look in here."

She shook her head, "I am responsible for the money for this specific reason. We are _not_ going in today Sokka, maybe some other time."

"Is this because we need _permission_ from Sparky before spending the money?" the warrior asked with a disappointed expression on his face.

"That is exactly why. He gave us his money because he can't just roam around the marketplace easily as we can." She answered as she dragged her brother away from the shop, "Just ask him when we get back to the cottage."

"Yeah, yeah…" Sokka looked back at the store that was growing farther and farther as Katara dragged him further away.

* * *

Her eyes dilated with unexplainable emotions building up inside her.  
Was it fury?  
Was it hatred?  
Was it sadness?

No, it was definitely something else.

Something that she had longed for her entire life...

That one thing she longed for ever so desperately.

"_Mom_?"

The woman smiled at her sweetly and caressed her face, "Azula, you have grown up so much." She laughed softly, "You have become so beautiful." She held a hand out with her, "Shall we take a walk?"

Hesitating, the princess reached out for the offered hand, until suddenly the calm, soothing world had quickly disappeared.  
Before she knew it, she saw wild fire burning endlessly creating pure chaos.  
She couldn't breathe as she watched the figure other mother that once stood before her, was slowly engulfed by flames. Her lips trembled as her body shook uncontrollably.  
_'What's going on?'_ was the only thing on her mind.

A large bright light of fire was falling from the sky, her eyes widen at the sight, "The comet…" she whispered, as it had fallen dangerously close to her as she jumped to avoid the crash.

She looked around, there was nobody there. The palace was engulfed in flames; the garden that Zuko and her mother used to always feed turtle ducks was burned into ashes.

The disgusting smell of burning flesh filled the air. Azula looked around in circles, fear was in her eyes. She started to run towards the burning palace, but only found her self tripping and falling.

Azula groaned as she pushed her body off the ground. Turning to see what had made her fall, she instantly regretted it as her eyes could not leave the horror before her.

Mika's dead body, lying in a pool of dark scarlet blood.  
The princess felt her stomach twist. She didn't understand; usually she was fine seeing dead people, but this sight before her…no, this time it made her sick. She felt like she was about to vomit.

She felt someone grab her arm with a strong grip. Her immediate reaction was self-defense. The blue flames erupted from her fists at the person who grabbed her as she threw a wild punch hoping to be released.

Unfortunately she was not. The person did not release her even though their arm was bleeding badly. Blood trickled down their arm and onto their hand. Blood fell to the ground starting to create a puddle from where they stood.

For the first time in a long time, she felt the emotion of fear. She wanted to get away and fast.

The princess's eyes widen then attacked the person again while she cried out in frustration, refusing to allow the person to know just how scared she was at the moment, "Let go of me! Why haven't you died yet! Release me right now! Who are you! Want do you want from me!?" struggling to free herself from the man's grip, but his grip remained firm.

"Princess, calm your mind. You are in a dangerous situation." He shouted angrily, "Calm yourself. This is all a mere illusion creating by your inner stress that had been building up inside of you." His arms wrapped around her and hugged her tightly, "Calm yourself princess."

The world around her seem to spin, the fire and the disastrous chaos that was once around her had disappeared. It was calm once again, where she was able to breathe evenly knowing she was safe once again.

The tight embrace had lessened, the man had finally released her, causing her to look over her shoulder, "Who are you?" she whispered with an uncertain expression on her face, "How come we are the only ones here?" her face turned into a frown.

The man turned to face her; she was pulled back by surprise noticing that the man was around Zuko's age. He had long layered black hair pulled back into a ponytail; his bangs covered his hazel eyes slightly. His skin was not pale, but not tanned either. Not only that…  
He was very, _very_ handsome.

Azula felt her heart skip a beat; it was another emotion that she had never witnessed before.  
"I asked you a question. Who are you?" this time she snapped. Standing up she studied the teenager once more.

He turned away from her, "My name remains unknown. Why I am here, is none of your concern." He walked off and disappeared into the palace.

Azula looked around once more as her world became fuzzy and she collapsed as she fell unconscious.

* * *

"…94…95…96…97…98…99…100! Two minutes break Twninkletoes!" Toph shouted as she pulled back a boulder away from the avatar as he collapsed to the ground and laid down muttering, "W-W-Wa-Water…"

A pair of two large pale feet stood not too far from his face, looking up he saw Zuko laughing nervously, "Here." Handing the waterflask to Aang he crouched down, resting on his knees, "She's really trying to kill you isn't she?"

"More like ttrying to torture me." The air monk grumbled as he drank the water and pulled himself onto his feet and groaned, "When will Katara be back?" he handed Zuko the flask back, and looked around, "She's the only one who can make Toph spare me."

"Perhasps I could help?" the firebender asked uncertainly, "Maybe I could nag her for some time for firebending lessons?"

Aang's eyes widen, "SERIOUSLY!" he grinned, "PLEASE DO SO!"

Zuko nodded, "Very well." He walked off back inside and found Toph leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, "So he's expecting to be given a break by your excuse?" she opened one eye and looked at him with a smirk, "But as I could tell, you had anothing thing in mind." Pushing herself off the wall she grinned, "Care to tell me what that is?"

It was Zuko's turn to smirk, "He may think that he's going to have a vacation here, but I intend to get him back on his training schedule."

Toph nodded in approval, "Well make sure you work his butt off." She snickered, "Just make sure you leave him still standing. I want to be the one to make him fall." She laughed as made her way past Zuko calling Aang, "Yo! Sparky said that he wants some spare time with you!"

Aang looked up gratefully, "You are allowing it?"

Toph nodded, "Of course, after all, he _is_ going to get you back on your firebending training." She held an arm out for Momo, who was sitting on a nearby boulder watching the training, so that he could jump on, "I'll come and get you in three hours."

Aang jumped high into the air and hurried to Zuko, "Alright! Let's go!"

Zuko smirked, "I am glad that you are looking forward for it."

…**30 Seconds Later…**

"I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO SPARE ME FROM THAT TRAINING!?" the airbender shouted angrily as he stood in his defensive stance as Zuko stood in his offensive with a smirk on his face, "I did spare you, but in exchange for time to practice your firebending!"

"I AM SO GOING TO TELL ON YOU TWO!" he shouted out childishly as he stuck out his tongue and launched a weak fireball ball no bigger than the side of his hand.

And the two started the training.

* * *

"Come on Katara…We are done, and we got extra cash…." He nudged her arm, "You do know what this means?"

"Finally time to go home?" she looked at her brother with a smart look on her face, as he pouted and protested, "Oh come on Katara, wouldn't it be nice to pick out a nice dress?" he stopped in front of her and smirked, "Remember that time at Ba Sin Se? You and Toph went out shopping for lovely dress to attend the King's Party?" he eyed her slyly, "Come on…I know you wanna…" he continued to nudge her with his elbow.

The waterbender looked at the cash and sighed, "Fine, here. I'll give you a bit of cash to get the guys something, I'll take care of Toph and i."

The warrior nodded eagerly as he held out his hands excitedly, "Sounds good to me!"

Katara looked at the sky and at then back at her brother, "Let's meet back here in 1 hour. Sound good?" she looked at him sharply, "Remember it's not just only for you! It's for everyone!"

"Including Zuko?" he asked as he slipped the silver and few gold pieces into his pocket then looked back at his sister tapping her chin, "I don't know about him…" she looked at the sky, "Perhaps you could. I don't really care; do so if you feel like it. Although if I remember clearly, he has no inentions of going to the festival." She shrugged, "Just do what you want." She turned to look back at her brother, but only to find him no longer there. She sighed heavily with a small smile on her face, "Somehow, I am not surprise…"

Walking around the marketplace she browsed through stores hoping to find something that would catch her interest.

Wandering around, she spotted a narrow path in between two shops and decided to check it out.  
Inspecting the pathway, she looks ahead and finally spots an old sign hanging beside the door.

Putting her hand on the handle, she turned the knob and entered the shop.  
A bell rang as she opened the door, looking around she saw loads of silks and materials, as well as dresses hanging on the indoors clotheslines.

"Ah, Miako! We finally have a customer."

Turning around, she was greeted by an elderly woman with an orange cat with a very fluffy tail in her arms.

The waterbender smiled sweetly, "Good evening." She looked around, "Do you make all of these?"

The elderly woman smiled warmly as she stroked her cat twice before setting the creature on to the counter, "Ah yes." Her smile faded slightly, "Although, my shop may close from lack of business." She turned back to the Water Tribe girl, "It's a pleasure to have someone come by." She looked at Katara's face, "You have lovely eyes my dear."

Katara blushed, "Oh, why thank you."

The woman nodded before replying, "I have not seen blue eyes for decades." She frowned, "It's a shame that such a war is going on. Hopefully it'll end soon."

The waterbender nodded in agreement, "I hope so too."

"Ah, so anyways; are you looking for something for the festival?" she asked warmly as she took the buddle of supplies from Katara's arms and placed them on the counter where the cat was now sleeping.

"Ah, yes…not only for me though, for my friend too." She answered.

"Ah, is she the same age as you?" the elderly woman asked, as she scanned her shop for a dress.

"Actually she's younger than me." Katara replied, "Unfortunately she's blind."

The woman turned back to Katara and took a seat on her stool behind the counter, "Poor child…It must be hard…" she trailed off, "How is she doing?"

"Perfectly fine." Katara said as she leaned against the counter, "Let's just say…She's a lot stronger and smarter than she looks." She laughed nervously, "I was thrown back from surprise."

The elderly woman chuckled before replying, "My name is Erika, and you are?"

"Katara." The waterbender replied, "And my friend's is Toph."

"Both of you girls have such sweet names…." She trailed off as she paused to think before continuing, "I'll tell you what. Bring your friend back here with you tomorrow morning. I need to see what she looks like so that I could help you girls out." Smiling she stood up and handed Katara her supplies back, "You should head back home now, it's not too safe for a beautiful girl like you to be walking alone in the dark."

Katara nodded, "Thank you for your time, I'll be sure to bring her tomorrow morning!" Katara made her way to the door and opened it as she looked over her shoulder, "Bye!"

Erika waved off to the waterbender and smiled as she stroked her cat as the door closed. Looking at Miako she whispered, "It's nice to see people from _other nations_ other than the Fire Nation around here isn't it Miako?"

The cat meowed in its sleep.

* * *

A cold cloth was dabbing her face.  
The golden eyes opened slowly only to found being cared by Mika whose eyes widen in surprise, "Your highness!" the servant girl looked over her shoulder with a bright smile, "Yuuko! She's awake!"

The guardian turned to glance at the princess who slowly pushed herself up straight with the help from Mika, who handed her a glass of water, "How are you feeling?"

Azula looked at the water before drinking it and groaned, "I don't think I ever want to experience that again."

Mika looked at her worriedly, "We tried to wake you up several of times." She looked at her seriously, "Other than that, you are to attend a war meeting in an hour."

Azula's eyes widen as the chaotic images flashed back at her, she unconsciously placed her hands on her head and began shaking violently.

"Princess Azula?" Mika stood up from the stool, "Would you like me to pass a message to your father that you are not well enough to attend the meeting?"

Azula flashed her eyes dangerously at Mika; "NO!" she snapped angrily, "I _must_ attend!" quickly she threw the covers off the bed and got up, but had nearly lost her balance and would've fell if Mika didn't support her right away.

"Bring me my clothes." She ordered in an annoyed but cold tone of voice, "I don't have much time to waste!"

The servant girl grabbed the Princess's arm and dragged her to bathroom, "Princess Azula, forgive me, but you need to bath first! You are very sweaty. I don't think you or the Fire Lord would like you to attend a meeting in this condition!"

Azula swayed a bit, but again was helped by Mika who led her to the bathroom.  
Before closing the door Mika shook a finger at Yuuko, "Don't you dare peek!"

Yuuko scowled, "Like I would!" he growled under his breath as he looked away.

"Princess Azula, you got ten minutes till the meeting!" Mika said as she followed the Princess down the halls almost having to run because of how fast the firebender prodigy walked.

"You can walk!" she gasped as she stumbled, but managed to keep herself on her feet.

Azula stopped and turned to the servant girl, "Ten minutes?" she scowled, "I thought you said I had _five_!"

Mika gasped catching her breath, resting her hands on her knees as she bent over breathing heavily, "I said that so that you would for sure be on time."

Azula turned to the servant girl and placed her hands on her hips, with a smirk on her face, "Well, now I can walk _elegantly _to the meeting." She started walked forward again, "Mika." She called.

"Yes your highness?" Mika was relived that she was able to walk calmly again, "What can I do for you?"

Her lips curled into a small smile, "I would like you to wait for me outside of the war chamber." She looked over her shoulder slightly, "Can you do that?"

The girl smiled brightly, "Of course your highness!"

They walked up to the chamber entrance where the generals were still talking before the meeting. They all quickly spotted the Princess and bowed, "Good evening your highness." They eyed the servant girl with a questioned look on their faces.

A general that was favored by Ozai bowed to the Princess and looked at Mika, "Is this your special servant your highness?"

Azula kept her normal posture, "Yes. She may look young, but she is very useful." She turned to the other men, "Shall we make our way inside everyone? We do not want to keep my father waiting."

"Of course Princess." They all murmured and made their way inside.

Mika stood outside of the room standing in a mannerly posture. She spotted the Fire Lord making his appearance and quickly bowed, "Good evening my Lord."

Ozai walked past the child without answering, but had one eye on her before commanding, "Miana," Mika's eyes widen as she heard the name, "you will remain here today." And then he entered the chambers.

Mika stood straight again and glanced at the servant woman who had a sly smile on her face glancing at Mika as well, "Well hello Mika…" she looked at the young girl's uniform, "I see you have proper permission to enter the restricted wing of the palace." She sneered, "Who do you serve?"

"I serve the Princess." Mika answered without any emotion as she looked away from the suspicious servant, "As I just saw; if I am assuming correctly, you serve the Fire Lord."

Miana smirked, "You know you manners for a kid your age. Just how old are you?"

Mika did not reply.

"Why won't you answer?" the servant asked.

Mika ignored her.

"Shesh, what's so difficult about telling about your age?" she snapped as she held her hands behind her back.

The guards who were standing in front of the chamber looked at her sharply.

"That's why." Mika whispered.

The servant scowled, "Don't try to outsmart me brat."

The guards looked at Miana once more.

'_I already have.'_ Mika thought to herself remaining her serious posture.

"What?" the servant woman barked at the guards.

"M'am, you better be quiet. If you don't we will have to silence you." The first guard said looked directly over at the Miana.

The woman had an annoyed look on her face, "It's all your fault." She hissed.

"Woman! Can't you just be quiet like that child? What's so hard about being quiet?!" the second one said.

"Aren't you two being noisy yourselves?" she sneered as she tossed her long locks over her shoulder.

Mika looked at Miana at the corner of her eye, observing all of her actions.

"Don't talk back to us woman, unless you want to face the consquences." The first guard stated sharply as he approached the woman, while the second guard placed a hand on Mika's shoulder and motioned her to move aside.

Miana eyed the guards carefully, "What do you plan to do to me?"

"Put you into the prisons, until our lord states to free you."

She snickered, "Oh really?"

Suddenly two long daggers slipped out of her sleeves and stabbed the first guard in the stomach as and threw the second one at the second guard who shouted, "Call for help!" and quickly firebended at the woman, but unfortunately she was already in front of him and stabbed him as well, making him fall to the ground.

Mika screamed in a high pitch voice, "INTRUDER!" there was no way someone was not going to hear that.

The woman aimed to kill the girl in one strike, but Mika was already in a defensive stance and unleashed a wave of flames at the servant woman who shrieked as the flames nearly licked her skin. She managed to dodge the attack, but was already caught by two other guards along with six more who showed up before both servants knew it.

The generals and the Fire Lord along with Azula came rushing out of the meeting to see what all of the ruckus was.

The other guards quickly extinguished the flames before they could spread and called for nurses who hurried to take care of the wounded guards.

Ozai looked at dangerously at Mika then at Miana, "Put both of them into the cells." He ordered angrily.

"My lord!" protested the second guard, who slowly pulled himself onto his feet, his chest bleeding severely, "The child has nothing to with it. She was behaving just fine, I ordered her to call for help." He chuckled, but at the same time blood trickled out of his mouth, "She… certainly got help… fast." He collapsed, just as the nurses hurried over to treat his wound.

Mika looked at the Fire Lord and bowed down, "I apologize for disrupting your meeting my lord, I was only doing as the guard order me to do."

Azula glanced her father who still was furious, she looked at Mika then at the flames that were finally put out, "Who firebended and created this mess?" she demanded as she looked over to the guards, who were both firebenders.

Mika raised her hand, "That would be me your highness." She bowed deeply, "I am ready to receive my punishment and clean up the mess that I caused."

Azula frowned, "You didn't tell me you could firebend."

Mika bowed once more without looking at Azula's face, "I apologize for keeping that from you. It's just that I don't normally firebend unless it's absolutely necessary. I don't know how to control my bending."

Ozai glanced at Azula, "Is this your servant Azula?" he frowned with an unapproved look on his face.

Azula glanced back at her father sharply, "She may not look much, but she is useful for my personal needs."

Ozai looked over to the guards who had the woman captured and commanded, "Throw that woman into the dungeon! I will personally punish her later." He turned to the servants, "You women better clean up this mess and make sure it's tidy before the meeting over!" he growled, "Otherwise it'll cost your lives."

The servants bowed and quickly got to work as the rebellious servant woman shouted, "AHA HA! YOU THINK IT'S OVER! YOU BRAT! YOU JUST WAIT! JUST WAIT FOR IT! I WILL SEEK MY REVENGE!"

"Be quiet already woman!" order the guards who handcuffed her and took her away from the chamber leaving the others to either start cleaning up, return to the meeting or take the wounded to the health chambers.

Azula looked at Mika and mouthed, _'We'll talk about this later.'_

Mika nodded before she hurried off to help the other servants.

* * *

Katara and Sokka finally returned to the cottage, only to find Aang running to them screaming, "KATARA--!"

The Water Tribe siblings looked at each other exchanging a confused expression on their faces.

The airbender skidded over to the waterbender and grabbed her arm, "Katara! Please! You got to help me!" he pointed over to Toph and Zuko who were following him, "THEY ARE TRYING TO KILL ME!"

Katara sighed as she handed the supplies for their dinner to Sokka and walked over to Toph and Zuko, "Okay, what happened while I was gone?"

"Oi! Katara! HELP ME OUT!"

Haru and Teo quickly followed out and hurried to help Sokka with all of the supplies and other things that Sokka brought with the given money from Katara, who received it from Zuko.

Zuko sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, "Toph and I were just taking turns training Aang." He frowned, "However, it seems that Aang really needs to work on his earthbending just a bit more before he could start metalbending." He pointed to Toph, "Well that's what she says, on the other hand with firebending, he isn't capable of creating a fireball bigger than his hands." He sighed heavily, "He really needs to work on that before metalbending." He looked at Toph, "Do you understand what I am talking about?"

Katara looked at the two of them, then back at Aang, "Aang, their training can't be _that _bad."

Aang shook his head and hid behind Sokka and pointed at the two benders, "THOSE TWO ARE DEMONS!"

Katara shook her head with disbelief, "Whatever, we'll settle this after supper." She looked over at Zuko, "Could you help me out a bit? It seems like you are the only one other than me who knows how to cook."

"Why not set a cooking lesson." Zuko offered as a joke, but Katara took it seriously, "Maybe after the war is over." She laughed.

* * *

The two opposite benders stood in the kitchen unloading the supplies for supper in silence. Katara decided the silence between them, "So how is Aang progressing?"

Zuko looked at her then back at the vegetable that he was chopping up, "Unfortunately, not too well." He glanced over to Katara who was slicing the bread, "It seems that Sokka wanted to spend some money after all."

Katara looked at him from the corner of her eyes, she sighed as her eyes shifted back to the bread, "Sorry about that. He nagged me until I gave in."

"Or maybe because you wanted to buy something as well." Zuko added slyly as he shot her a smirk indirectly.

Katara finished slicing and placed the sliced bread into the basket before taking another vegetable to chop up for the stew, "That's not true." She protested.

"Of course." He replied sarcastically.

"It's true."

"I highly doubt that." He snickered as he placed the chopped veggies into the bowl and pointed to the meat, "Are we making two different meals?"

"Aang's a vegetarian, remember. So yes." She replied, "The meat is for us and the others."

Zuko began to cut up the meat and decided to change topic, "Whose going to the festival?"

Katara stopped slicing and glanced at him, "Everyone but you." She looked at him, "Are you sure that you don't want to go?"

Zuko quickly finished cutting up the meat and threw them into the pot that was cooking the stew over the fire, "I am quite certain. I've never liked festivals."

"Maybe because you never knew what _fun_ was." She joked and took the finished chopped up veggies and the other bowl that Zuko finished earlier and dumped them into the pot.

The firebender did not reply, "It's not that I didn't know what fun was." He said quietly as he cleaned up while Katara stirred the stew by waterbending.

"Then what is your reason." The waterbender asked, never taking her eyes off the stew.

Katara finished stirring and turned to look at Zuko, who had not answered her question yet, only to find him gone.

Frowning worriedly, she waterbended the fire out and began to waterbend the stew into separate bowls, _'Maybe it was something I shouldn't have asked.'_

* * *

"YUMMY!" Aang cried out hungrily as he devoured his meal almost as Sokka usual does. He held out his bowl, "Seconds please!"

Katara looked at him sharply, "I think you are more than capable of helping yourself Aang."

The airbender blushed, "Ah, ha, ha…You're right Katara."

The waterbender looked down the table from where everyone sat. Everyone was there except for Zuko.

The waterbender stood up from her seat, "I'll be right back." She picked up a bowl and waterbended the stew into the bowl before leaving the dinning room.

Aang watched her go with a worried looked on his face. Just when he was about to stand up Toph held out her bowl, "Seconds please, Twinkletoes!"

"Yeah, me too please." Sokka held out his bowl for his fourth serving.

Aang sighed and remained at the table as he helped himself to his second bowl.

* * *

Zuko sat on the roof of the cottage staring at the night sky in deep thoughts.

"So I guessed right."

He sat up and looked over to where the waterbender just had climbed on to the roof with a bowl of stew in her hands.

"Here." She said as she handed him the bowl and took a seat beside him, "I apologize for asking you a personal question."

The firebender shook his head, "I wouldn't call it personal." He took a sip of the stew, "I guess you would call it; sad memories."

"Sad memories?" Katara looked at him with a concerned look on her face.

"Well, maybe they are not the right words." He chuckled he looked up at the half moon, "I guess you could say, I wish that those times lasted longer."

He looked over to her, "Before my father became Fire Lord, or rather a few years before that happened…" he trailed off, "I guess you could say I had a happy life." He paused, "Not perfect, but was good enough for me." He said quietly, "My cousin Lu Ten, uncle, my mother, father and Azula…we used to always come here when we were really young." He laughed as a piece of memory flashed back to him, "I was really young then, I was probably 4 or 5 years old." He finished the stew before placing it beside him, "As a family, we used to always attend the Ember Island's Festival." A genuine smile appeared on his face, "It was a lot of fun during those days…" he suddenly snorted, "Back then, I was able to roam the island without having to worry about being arrested."

Now the waterbender snorted, "So are you telling me that you won't go to the festival because of the risk of yourself being discovered."

He looked at her sharply, "My _scar_ symbolize who I am. I'll attract too much attention."

Katara laughed, "Still, what does it have to do with your past, and the present?" she looked at him, "Are you saying that you regret _betraying_ your family?"

Zuko looked at her with frown on his face, "It's not that easy to turn your back on your family!"

Katara looked up at the stars, "I know what you mean. Trust me."

Zuko sneered, "Yeah right."

The waterbender turned back to Zuko, "I will you this: I had to fight against someone from my own tribe."

"It's not the same as going against your parents." He snapped.

Katara stood up, "I guess I can't exactly say that I know how you feel." She turned to him, with her hands on her hips, "Now, I hope you haven't forgotten about the duel you proposed to me."

Zuko smirked, "No, I have not."

Katara flashed an evil grin, "I think it's about time that I finally fight you. I will consider this as a rematch from Ba Sin Se!"

The former prince groaned, "Don't remind me." Jumping onto his feet, he picked up his bowl and looked over to her, "Where do you want to fight?"

Katara looked out at the beach behind the cottage, "Is that your private beach?"

Zuko looked over to where she was looking, "Yes." He glanced at her, "Do you want to fight there?"

Katara paused to think, "I don't really care."

Zuko shrugged, "Well at Ba Sin Se, there was water around us. So to make it a fair rematch, we'll fight at the beach."

The waterbender smirked, "Perfect." She slipped off the roof and through the window, "I'll meet there then."

"Since when did you have ninja skills?" Zuko called out as a joke.

"Always has!" Katara shouted back.

* * *

"And so it seems that she was trying to seduce your father." The servant girl concluded.  
Since after what happened during the war- meeting, Azula had many questions about Miana.

The firebender stood up from her bed, tossing her long hair over her shoulders , "But the question is…Was her intentions of seducing my father so that she could get closed to him and assassinate him…" she trailed off as her frown grew, "Or was it she was only trying to charm him so that she could become Fire Lady."

Mika stared at the princess for long time with a worried look on her face, "Your highness." She began quietly, "If you do not mind answering…." She trailed off.

The firebender turned and looked at the girl with a serious look on her face, ready for the question, "What happened to _original _Fire Lady?" she paused, "In that case, I'm talking about your mother." The inexperience firebender bowed deeply, "I apologize if I asked a personal question. I have no right to-,"

"To be honest. I have no clue."

Mika shot her head up, and stared at Azula who had her back to her. This was the first time she had ever heard Azula say anything in such a tone of voice.

Bowing once more she asked another question, "Do you miss her?"

Azula laughed without humor as she heard the servant girl ask the question, making both Mika and Yuuko exchanging concerned looks to each other.

The fire in fireplace had turned blue as Azula laughed coldly and turned to face Mika, "Do I miss her? How could I _possibly_ miss that woman?! I couldn't care less about her!"

Mika frowned, as if reading right through Azula she answered, "I don't believe that's how you truly feel."

Azula scowled, "Are you saying that I'm wrong?" her voice was icy.

Yuuko watched the two girls stare at each other, taking a heavy sigh, he was about to break it up when Mika beat him to it, "I know, because I can see right through you. Deep, inside your heart, you have always wanted more attention from your mother. You have always thought that your father would be enough for you, and that you live a life without a mother caring about the child."

The guardian's eyes widen, _'She really did read right through her!' _He shifted his eyes to see Azula's reaction.

Indeed, the Princess was speechless.

A load of different emotions were bubbling inside her. She could not identify what it was.  
Was it happiness?  
Was it anger or hatred?  
Jealousy or Sadness?  
Or was it something else?

The firebending prodigy stood there. Her head hung as her bangs covered her expression on her face.  
Before both they knew it she screamed out with mixed emotions, "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"

Mika bowed and quickly left the room without another word.

Yuuko frowned as he watched tears fall from the princess's face, "Your highness?"

She shot an angry, yet furious look at her Guardian as tears ran down her face, "THAT WOMAN THOUGHT OF ME AS A MONSTER! HOW COULD I POSSIBLY MISS HER!?"

Yuuko remained quiet.

Azula finally became conscious of her tears, and laughed without humor as she wiped her face, "How could this be! I'm crying over such a stupid matter." Her body began to shake violently, "I don't care about that woman, I don't want to ever see her again…" punching a fist of aqua flames into the fireplace she shouted, "I WOULD RATHER TO SEE HER DEAD!"

The guardian decided to try and distract the princess and pull her away from this unwanted stress, "Princess Azula, perhaps you should get some rest. It'll calm the mind."

Azula glared at him, "Who ever had given you permission to tell me what I should do?"

Yuuko looked at her with concerned eyes, "Just get some rest Princess, you are still not well."

Azula scowled and finally gave in.  
Throwing herself on to her bed, she pulled the covers over her head and did not say another word.

* * *

The moon was high, and the tides were just coming in.

Haru, Sokka, Teo, Aang and Toph along with Momo and Appa sat on high grounds to watch the friendly match between Zuko and Katara.

The two opposite benders both took their stance waiting for Toph to '_ring the bell_'.

The Blind Bandit punched a rock and screamed, "GAME START!"

The others looked at her with strange looks, "Game Start?" they all asked practically at the same time, before turning back the match that have already started.

Zuko was first to act, as usual.  
He started off with a punching 3 large fireball, along with a stream of fire from his feet.

Katara withdrew the water from the ocean and quickly 'hosed' out the fire, which had created a whole area of steam. Making it very difficult to see around them.  
The humidity was also another thing that gave Katara an advantage.

Toph felt the ground and tried to sense what was going happening on the beach, just before Sokka asked, "Can you see what's going on?"

The earthbender nodded, "I have been able to read through the movement of the sand." She frowned, "But it's not all that simple."

Zuko decided to use the _Steam Screen_ as a decoy and get into the water, which could be quiet a risk.  
He began to run, but then all the sudden he realized that he had no idea where the ocean was.

…

On the other hand, with Katara; she decided to do something…a little crazy, but use it for her advantage.

Throwing her arms up in the arm and waving them expertly and fast, she summoned a large wave and threw it down over the entire 'Arena'.

…

Aang gasped along with others, except for Toph, who had no clue what was going on with the water, "Look at that guys!"

Haru grinned and jumped to his feet, "Oh yeah! GO KATARA! DROWN THAT BASTARD! KILL HIM-OW!"

Sokka just punched Haru in the arm and scowled, "Nice going, you just gave away her attack."

The earthbender sat down again and hung his head, "Sorry Katara."

When Zuko had heard the earthbender shout, _"Oh yeah! GO KATARA! DROWN THAT BASTARD! KILL HIM-OW!" _he already knew that Katara had something, big…not scratch that, something _huge_ in her hands.

Creating a Ring of Fire, he whipped his arms around and quickly created a large, and long wall of flames around him.

Within Seconds, water came falling down over him, he grunt as the unbearable heat of the humidity that was just increased.

…

Katara scowled and looked up Haru, '_Thanks a lot buddy.'_ She said to herself sarcastically.

Waving her hands, she decided to clear the steam screen so that she could see what was going on again.

…

The steam cleared and now the two opponents were able to see each other.

Zuko waved a timeout signal to Katara as she nodded. She glanced up at Haru who was now looking at Zuko, "What is it?"

Zuko grinned, "Did you see what happen when two opposites clashes into each other?"

Haru blinked, "Huh?"

Sokka did a face palm, "Dude, after they went through all that trouble to show you a great example, you STILL don't get it!?"

Haru nodded which made Sokka, Teo, Aang and including Toph fell back from shock.

"Are you serious?" Zuko shouted in an annoyed tone.

Katara frowned and glanced at Haru, "When two opposites clashes into each other, it creates something new." She sighed, "Fire and Water is a perfect example." She looked at Haru with an annoyed look on her face, "Did you not see the steam?"

Haru blinked, "Wait that was from both of your bendings?"

Zuko and Katara nodded hoping that he was finally getting somewhere.

"Then what happens with Earth and Air?" he asked as he turned to Aang.

Aang looked at him, "It's basically the same thing, but air has no effect on earth whatsoever when it comes to offense, but it's useful during defense."

"Earth is solid, while Air is something you walk through everyday." Toph added, "So when to two combine, nothing exactly happens." She shrugged, "Well I can't exactly _see_ before my eyes what happens if there is something that does occur."

Haru scratched his head, "Then why does Fire and Water react?"

"As Toph just said, Earth is solid and Air is something you walk through everyday; but in this case, Fire and Water are unique elements."

Toph frowned, "And you're saying that Earth is plain?"

Zuko shook his head, "No, I am not trying to say that. Earth has its own unique abilities such as sandbending, metalbending and maybe more that we have not come across yet." He turned back to Haru, "Water is something cold, and is something that can become both solid and something that can be walked through as well." He frowned, "But on the other hand; Fire is something hot, and never will be considered as a solid. It'll always be something you can walk right through." He coughed before adding, "And _burn_ yourself if you have no way of repelling the fire."

Sokka burst out laughing.

Everyone turned to Sokka to question about his laughter, but he had already beat them to it, "Ah, ha, ha! Zuko! I could have not said it better myself!"

"What's so funny?" Toph asked, who was not amused at all.

Sokka wiped away his invisible tears and ended his laughter, "Oh, it's just because that was the most we have heard from Zuko in a long time."

Everyone still didn't get it.

Sokka looked at them with wide eyes, "Are you guys serious!?"

* * *

It was already late in the evening when Mika made her way out of the palace.  
Her face was tired and sad. A lot had happened that day.

"Mika."

She looked up and saw the guardian and smiled sadly, "I apologize for making the Princess feel so distress."

Yuuko shook his head, "It's alright. She's be better by tomorrow morning." He looked at her, "Is it already that I escort you home?"

Mika nodded, then checked her bag to make sure she had everything, her widen eyes, "Ah! I forgot something. Yuuko could you do me a favor and hold this for me, I'll be right back!" she quickly ran back into the palace.

Her footsteps echoed the halls as she jogged to the servant's changing room and opened the door and found for what she was looking for, "Ah, here it is. I knew I dropped it."

Closing the door behind her, she made her way back to the entrance.

Footsteps echoed the hallway other than hers, she slowed down her pace into a walk incase it was someone from a high social rank.

Looking over her shoulders, she turned to see who it was.  
Her eyes widen and shrieked.

* * *

**End of Chapter 19**

A/N: Phew, I didn't realize I wrote so much! Well, at least it makes up for Chapter 18, which was WAY to short and BORING.

OMGOSH! THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR REVIEWS! YOU GUYS ROCK! (Please do continue to do so!)  
I hope you are getting a cold chill down your back, because I'm shaking.

Now let's talk about the Chapter:

A LOT had happened. (Pointing out the obvious)

Conclusion: We are now starting to climb up the mountain of the rising action!

See you all at Chapter 20!

**Chapter 20**

_Coming Soon._


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

It was already late in the evening when Mika made her way out of the palace.  
Her face was tired and sad. A lot had happened that day.

"Mika."

She looked up and saw the guardian and smiled sadly, "I apologize for making the Princess feel so distress."

Yuuko shook his head, "It's alright. She'll be better by tomorrow morning." He looked at her, "Is it alright that I escort you home?"

Mika nodded, then checked her bag to make sure she had everything, her widen eyes, "Ah! I forgot something. Yuuko could you do me a favor and hold this for me, I'll be right back!" she quickly ran back into the palace.

Her footsteps echoed the halls as she jogged to the servant's changing room and opened the door and found for what she was looking for, "Ah, here it is. I knew I dropped it."

Closing the door behind her, she made her way back to the entrance.

Footsteps echoed the hallway other than hers, she slowed down her pace into a walk incase it was someone from a high social rank.

Looking over her shoulders, she turned to see who it was.  
Her eyes widen and shrieked.

* * *

A loud scream echoed throughout the palace.

Yuuko standing outside spun around and roared, "MIKA?!"

* * *

Azula shot up straight as she heard the high pitch scream.  
Bolting out of bed, she dashed out of her room only to find the guards and the other servants running all towards the entrance.

Hurrying to the entrance she spotted Yuuko standing outside.  
Her eyes widen as she saw the panicked look on his face.

Her feet moved on their own, before she knew it she was behind a crowd of servants and guards murmuring among each other.

"MOVE ASIDE!" she shouted angrily, as she shoved the servants and guards aside.

It was as if time was moving slow motion, it felt forever before she could reach the inside of the circle.

Pushing the last maid aside she was about to order the maid to get out of her, but her eyes caught something that made her scream.

The princess.  
The firebending prodigy princess, daughter of the Fire Lord…  
Let out a scream of terror.

There before her, laid Mika's body in a pool of fresh blood.  
Her body shook uncontrollably as she collapsed on to her knees.

"Princess!?" the guards and servants all looked over her worriedly while others were ordering to search for the murderer.

Hot fresh tears slid down her face and fell to the floor like raindrops.

Her hand reached out for the young lifeless servant girl but was pulled back by a guard, "Princess! Do not touch her. She's not worth your time-,"

The guard was cut off by Azula shoving him into the crowd, she whipped her head facing the guard was that just previously thrown into the crowd, "DO NOT TELL ME WHO'S WORTH MY TIME!"

Turning back to face Mika she crawled over and looked at the child's lifeless face, more tears fell from her eyes and on to the servant girl's face.  
Her hand reached out to caress the girl's cold face, she placed a hand under the girl's head and held it up so she could look at her, "Mika?" she whispered. More tears fell onto the child's face.

She shook her slightly, "Come on Mika…Come on…You're just unconscious right…right!?" her eyes trailed over to the servant girl's fresh wound on her chest, her eyes widen. Desperation overcame her, "MIKA!" she screamed, "MIKA!"

The servants and guards were now murmuring among each other, but were quickly silenced as the Fire Lord made his appearance.

A guard bowed and quickly kneeled on one knee looking at the floor and reported, "We have not found the murderer my Lord, what is your order?"

The Fire Lord did not take his eyes off his daughter, "She's already taken care of. I burned her right on the spot." He waved at the servants, "Go and clean up the body. I don't want my room to smell like a death tomb."

Waving a hand to the servants and guards he ordered, "And get rid of this body as well."

Another guard bowed, "Where would you like the bodies to go my lord?"

He waved his hand, "To the usual dump."

Azula's eyes widen and took Mika's dead body and hugged her protectively, as she cried out, "DON'T TOUCH HER!"

Ozai frowned with disapproval written all over his face, "Why would you care about that useless child? She's just a peasant; she is nothing but a waste of your energy." He scowled, "Now let the guards get rid of her, and clean up! Look at you! Now you are covered in that peasant's blood, such disgrace!" he pivoted his heel turning away from his favorite daughter, "I'll leave you to the rest." Waving his hands, the guards approached the princess cautiously, "Your highness, please do as your father wishes."

Reaching for the child their hands were quickly pulled back at Yuuko jumped between them and the Princess, he snarled, "Touch either of them, and you'll regret it."

The guards frowned and took their stance, "Then we'll have to move you by force."

"Princess." The guardian whispered, "We're going to run for it."

Azula eyes widen, "What do you plan to do?" she whispered back, as she slipped another hand under the Mika's knees and held her bridal style.

"What I plan to do, is not important." He snapped.

Taking a deep breath, the guards began to back away, one guard in particular alreadyway ahead of them, "Uh…guys…really…I think we should just leave them to be…" he retreated to a safe distance while the others remained standing their grounds.

Fire came out bursting out the guard's mouth, as the princess jumped to her feet and darted out of the palace, with Yuuko trailing behind her watching their backs.

Looking ahead at the gates she spotted the guards and shouted, "OPEN THE GATES!"

The guards looked at each other with confusion on their faces but opened the gates anyways.

_'Sorry father, for my rash behavior. I'll make it up for you, I'll promise you that.' _She hurried out of palace gates and stood outside of the wall with Yuuko who was now looking around the area, she stared at him before tearing a strip a material from her nightgown and wrapped it around Mika's wound so no more blood will fall.

The guardian glanced back at her and sighed, "What do you want to do?"  
Azula scowled, "I thought you had a plan already!"

Yuuko snorted, "Unfortunately I didn't think it through this time." His eyes shifted from the tear-stained face princess, to the dead body in her arms, "What would you like to do with Mika's body?"

Azula looked down at Mika and began to tremble; she hugged the child close and once again spilled fresh tears.

"Your highness?"

'_Oh great, now someone is going to see me in this ridiculous state. How disgraceful for the royal family.'_ Wiping the tears away she looked up and saw an elderly woman approaching her with her hands to her mouth, "Mika…?"

Azula eyes widen as she saw the elder drop her basket in her arms and ran over towards her, "Mika!?" she cried out, falling onto her knees before the princess and caressed the child's face. Tears slid down her wrinkled face. Looking up to the princess of the Fire Nation, she whispered, "What on earth happened your highness?" her voice quivered.

Azula couldn't hold back her tears anymore; she began to weep and hugged Mika tighter, "She was killed." She cried, "She was killed…"

The elderly woman looked at the princess and took her hands, "Come to my home, you can talk about it there." She pulled up a sad smile, "We wouldn't want anyone to see you this state?"

Yuuko nodded, "Good timing." He looked over his shoulder glancing at the palace before turning back to the elderly woman, "Madame." The woman looked up in response, he looked at her sharply, "I am trusting you to protect the princess in the mean time."

The firebender looked up and glanced at her Guardian, "Where are you going?"

Yuuko looked at her sharply, "That does not matter your highness. I'll be able to sense your presence so it won't be a problem searching for your location." He paused, "In the mean time, if I do not return by sunrise, please meet me at the outskirts of town."

Azula's eyes widen, "Wait, what?!" she stood up and demanded, "I command you to tell me is on your mind right now Yuuko!"

A hand was placed on her shoulder, surprised she looked over her shoulder and saw the elderly woman shaking her head, "Let him be, your highness." Standing up, she began picking up her dropped things and placing them back into her basket she looked back at the guardian, "Do not worry, she'll be safe at my house." She glanced at the princess, "Please follow your highness, it's not far from here."

When Azula turned to look back at Yuuko, he was already gone.  
"Your highness?"

Azula nodded and began to follow the elderly woman, _'This is new for me…Following a peasant…Usually I wouldn't do such a thing…then why am I doing so now?'_

* * *

Katara and Toph sat in their room on their beds sitting across each other in silence.  
Toph was first the break the silence, "So, did you have something that you wanted to tell me?"

The waterbender looked up and began kicked her dangling feet back and forth before answering, "Actually, I do." She stopped, "Are you interested in going to the festival still?"

Toph looked at her with a surprised expression, "Who said that I wasn't interest? Of course I'm coming!"

Katara laughed, "That's great!" she paused, "I found a nice shop to go to." She paused once more trying to read the earthbender's face, then continued, "The store owner is nice." She stopped swinging her feet and planted them on to the ground, "She said that she would be able to help us choose an outfit for the festival."

Toph snorted, "Maybe you misheard something and mistaken it about me not being interested in the festival!" she pulled up her feet on to her bed and crossed them; "I am not interested of wearing some fancy outfit." She sighed, "Isn't what I am wearing right now fine?"

Katara smiled sweetly, "This is a formal festival, we _have_ to wear something nice." She pointed one foot at Toph, "Erika said that I should be you personally along with me." Then quickly added, "The store keeper that is, I told her that you were blind. But it seems that she has something in mind just for you." She trailed off as she noticed Toph's expression changed to something unreadable, "When are we supposed to go?"

"Tomorrow morning…really early…" Katara tapped her chin, "I wonder why she wants us there so early…she must have something else planned." She glanced at the earthbender who was now frowning, "We are _not_ going to a spa or some sort of hot spring."

"Hot spring?" Katara said before jumping onto her feet, "OH great idea Toph!"

"Whoa! Hold your horses Sugar-Queen!" she exclaimed as she too stood up, "And besides, why on earth should we be lounging around when we have the Fire Lord's ass to kick."

Katara frowned, and scolded the earthbender, "What your langue."

"You're not my mother."

"Whoa, déjà vu!?"

"Wait…huh?"

"You said to me before." Katara explained with a sigh, "At that time you were scamming people…" she laughed without humor, "I can't believe that I even did such a thing."

"You are right; it _is_ hard to believe how you are against it, since after all you _have_ stolen a waterbending scroll."

Katara sat down crossed her arms scowling, "Where did you hear that from?"

The Blind Bandit shot her a mischief grin, "Your brother told me."

Katara leaned back with her arms resting on the futon, "Jeez, he's such a girl."

"He screams like one too." Toph added.

Both girls broke out into laughter.

* * *

The boys all sat around in a circle in the lounge.  
The girls' laughter was making all of them nervous, that is except for Aang, Teo and Haru, on the other hand, Sokka and Zuko just inwardly laughed nervously.

"So what is the plan for tomorrow's festival?" Aang piped up as she rested one arm on his knee while leaning back on the other, "Who wants to go?"

Sokka gasped and jumped on to his feet, "Oh! Thanks for reminding me Aang!" he sprinted out of the room.

The boys looked at each other and shrugged.  
Before they knew it, Sokka was back with his arms full.

"While Katara and I shopped for dinner today, we did some side shopping." He looked at Zuko, "Sorry about that man…"

Zuko shrugged, "I don't really care, I had given you the money to spend anyways."

"Really?" he grinned, "You rock man." He began tossing out the outfits to the boys, "Here guys, if you don't like them just return them to the shops tomorrow morning."

Aang stared at his outfit and held it out in front of him and shivered, "Uh…Thanks Sokka…" he leaned over to Zuko, "What is this."

Zuko sighed with his eyes closed and leaned over to Aang as well and whispered, "That's a…"

"Do you really expect _me_ to wear _Fire Nation_ clothes!?"

Everyone turned to Haru with serious looks on their faces, and replied, "Yes."

"And besides, how else did you think we were supposed to sneak around the Fire Nation?" Aang added, "Do you actually expect us to walk around town wearing our traditional clothes?"

"Yes." Haru answered.

Sokka did a face palm, "Man, you are really hopeless."

* * *

Since the murder of Princess Azula's personal servant, the palace was very noisy.

"I can't believe that child was targeted."  
"Poor thing."

"Can you believe it? The princess was spilling tears over that girl!?"  
"The princess we have all feared."  
"Don't underestimate her."  
"But still, I thought she wasn't human, but that certainly showed the edivence that she really is human afterall."

"The Fire Lord wasn't impress."  
"What do you expect? He was not expecting his favorite child to be crying over some peasant girl."  
"Perhaps they were close?"  
"Why would you think that?"  
"Well, the princess began to act a bit more _alive_…"  
"_Alive_, just what do you mean by that?"

"I feel sorry for the child's family."  
"I can't imagine how they are going to receive the news."  
"Yes, especially since their daughter was being thrown out to who knows where, without a proper burial."  
"Actually, I don't believe that is true."  
"Eh? How is that?"  
"Some guards have been talking about how the Princess and her Guardian left the palace with the girl to who knows where."  
"To find her family perhaps?"  
"Well, at least the princess has enough honor to do such a thing." Someone said quietly.

"That child changed her."  
"Indeed, not on the outside, but definitely on the inside."  
"Is that good thing or bad thing?"  
"A GOOD THING!"

The guardian walked through the garden, but was still able to hear half of the conversations.  
Yuuko sighed heavily before taking a deep breath and jumped over a large wall and made his way towards the Fire Lord's chamber.

* * *

Ozai took another sip of his tea before shifting his eyes to the balcony then back at his tea and closed his eyes, "What is it that you want Yuuko?"

The guardian bowed, "I apologize for disturbing you my lord."

Ozai placed his teacup back on to its plate before standing up to face the guardian, "So where have my daughter run off to?"

"I'll have to keep that classified from you my lord."

Ozai frowned, then turned to the fireplace that was reacting victiously, "Would you care to tell me why Azula would get so emotionally effected about some mere peasant servant?"

Yuuko looked up, "_Mika_ was first and only person to warn your daughter about a suspious intruder." He paused, "They did not want to tell you until their information was confirmed."

"Confirmed?"

"Mika did some investigation on that woman." He took a deep breath, "She was a genius, an ideal…not perfect servant to serve Princess Azula."

The Fire Lord turned to face him, "How could you possibly consider the child as an ideal, no _perfect_ servant to serve my daughter?"

"She had gathered useful information, her manners were ladylike and addressed the princess formally at all times, she always satisfied the princess when asked to."

Ozai shifted eyes away from the guardian and back, "I think I heard enough." He looked at the guardian square in the eyes, "That child unconsciously changed Azula inside out." He snapped, "That child brought shame to the royal family!" he growled, "As well as ruining Azula's reputation as a ruthless princess!" he scowled, "The daughter _I_ know would've burned the body on the spot or would've done something horrible to the servants for creating such a ruckus!"

'_Maybe you don't know people as well as you think you do.'_ Yuuko thought to himself.

"Other than that, bring my daughter back home! She needs to be punished." He growled as he spun around facing his back to Yuuko, who was looking at the family portrait that was half burned off, the portrait only included Azula, Ozai himself and Ursa.

"Actually. That's why I'm here." Yuuko announced as he turned back to face the Fire Lord, who have already turned back to him, "I believe it would be best for the Princess to get some proper treatment by taking a short vacation." He looked sharply at the Fire Lord, "Even if you say no, I'll take her anyways because of _my own_ duty."

The Fire Lord turned away and waved his hand at the guardian, "Very well," he began roughly, and grunted, "Do what you want, however I expect her back by the end of this week."

"Very well." Yuuko bowed and quickly left the chamber leaving the Fire Lord to deal with his own fury building up inside him.

'_That went better than expected.'_ He smirked at the thought.

* * *

Azula sat inside the elderly lady's home and turned to look at where Mika's body laid covered with a blanket to make her look like she was only sleeping.

'_If only she were.'_ The princess thought to herself as the elderly lady poured them both some tea and took a seat across from the princess, "Now…" she began slowly and quietly, "Would you care to tell me what happened?"

Azula nodded slowly, "To be truthful, I did not see what happened, but it seems that she was targeted by a certain servant that intended to assassinate the Fire Lord…or maybe try to seduce him." She trailed off, "Mika was the first person to take notice, and did her own investigation on the suspect." She stopped and looked up as the elderly woman chuckled softly, "That's the Mika I know."

Azula looked at her with wide eyes, "Do you have any connections with Mika or her family?"

The elderly woman nodded, "Yes, in fact I'm good friends with them." She looked over to Mika, "She was such a responsible girl." She glanced at her royal highness, "Did she serve you?"

"Yes she did. But that was after she delivered the warning to me." She looked at her reflection in the teacup, "She was also only a part-timer." A sinsere smile appreared on her face, "I would've liked to offer her to stay and remain as my personal servant." Her smile faded as she began to shake again. She shut her eyes to hold back the tears that were to spill.

"Let your tears fall Princess Azula." The elderly woman said softly, "We are allowed to cry, no matter who we are."

Azula began cry harder and buried her face in her hands.

The elderly woman watched her with sad eyes, and whispered, "Come here _Azula._"

The princess obeyed as the elderly woman got up and led her to a bedroom and sat down on the bed, "Come here dear, you may cry on my lap."

Azula was too weak to fight against her second thoughts, she fell on to the bed hugged the elderly who was now also crying and had begun to stroke the princess's head, "It's alright to cry my dear…it's alright to feel sorrow."

The princess cries had finally quiet down and had fallen asleep on the elderly woman's lap, who smiled softly, and looked out the window at the stars that sparkled outside.

'_It seems that you have changed the princess inside out Mika.'_ The woman smiled at the thought, _'I could never be more proud of you than I am now.'_

* * *

The boys have all already settled into their rooms.  
Everyone was sound asleep.

Except for one.  
Zuko sat on his window frame and stared out into the ocean and leaned back and sighed heavily.

'_What's the matter Zuko?'_

He blinked and looked around before muttering, "Oh it's you again." Then added, "Are you here to pester me again?"

_'No, not really.'_

"So then why are you talking to me?"

_'Nothing much.'_

"You sound different than usual."

_'It's nothing to worry about.'_ There was a sigh.

"What is it?"

_'No, I'm just thinking…'_

"Care to spill what's on your mind?" he asked as he swung his feet on to the window frame and pivoted his heels and leaned out of the window and pulled himself on to the roof.

'_It's nice out isn't it?'_

"Huh?"

_'Nothing, nothing.'_

"Right." Zuko said with sarcasm in his voice.

'_Zuko, may I ask you out of curiosity a question.'_

"What is it?"

'_What do you think your role is to ending this war?'_

Zuko stopped to think, but changed his mind, "Train the Avatar Firebending, and help him reach my father…" he trailed off, "I will probably fight Azula."

_'Do you want to have a rematch with your father to redeem yourself?'_

"I already have redeemed myself by joining the Avatar's group." Zuko answered as he laid back with his arms cushioning his head, "Although, as much as one side of me wants to, I know that I can't."

_'Why is that?'_

"Because that would only lead me to two paths, either burn him, or kill him right on the spot." He stared at the stars and held out a hand as if he was trying to reach them, "I could never do that."

'_I have another question.'_

"What is it?"

_'Would you ever be able to kill a sibling?'_

"Never."

_'What about the situation?'_

"Whether or not I'm in a close to death situation and supposedly the only way to escape alive is to defeat them right on the spot, I still wouldn't kill a family relative." A smile appeared on his face, "I would think of another way to escape." He closed his fist as if he caught a star.

He stopped when a thought occurred to him, "Besides, why would you ask such a thing?"

The voice sighed, _'Nothing really, just pure curiosity.'_

'It's almost time.' The voice said suddenly.

Zuko's eyes widen and bolted up straight, "What's almost time?"

'_You'll feel it.'_ The voice replied, _'Or rather just naturally react.'_

"I see."

'_Besides, you should get some rest.'_

"Who are you? _My uncle_? Nobody tells me what time I have to go to bed." Zuko snorted as a playful smile appeared on his face as the image of his uncle appeared in his mind.

Both of them laughed.

* * *

The pale sunlight shinning the princess's eyes woke her up from her deep, dreamless slumber.

"Good morning your highness."

The firebender rubbed her eyes and smiled softly, "Breakfast will be ready soon, I have already filled the bath up for you." She held out spare clothes, "Also if you don't mind, I have some spare clothes from my childhood that you could wear since you are still in your nightgown." She placed the clothes on the bed, "Take you time in the bath, there is no need to rush."

The princess nodded as she sat up and swung her feet over the bed and made her way to the bathroom to wash up.

Stripping her clothes, she steped into the hot both and began scrubbing her skin that was covered with Mika's dried out blood.

Her eyes widen slightly at the sight but a sad look quickly took over as she scrubbed her skin."

'_So Mika really is dead…' _she thought sadly, _'It wasn't just all a nightmare.'_

The previous nightmare she had flashed through her mind.

She shook her head to get rid of the image and sank deeper into the tub,_ 'Not like last time unfortunately…'_

Azula began washing her hair thoroughly.  
Usually she would have servants doing it for her, but this time…

'_Servants…'_ when the word crossed her mind the first thing that appeared was an image of Mika's smiling face, _'I may not be able to be around them anymore…'_

Finishing her bath, she got changed and brushed her hair before leaving the bathroom and entering the kitchen.

The smell of delicious food sitting on the table reached her nose; she hurried down the stairs and took a seat at the table where the elderly woman was pouring tea.

The woman saw her and smiled, "Ah forgive me your highness, I have never introduced myself." She chuckled, then bowed, "My name is Kaori." she chuckled once more, "It sounds a bit to young for an elderly woman like me."

Azula shook her head and took a sip of tea before replying, "Thank you for your generosity."

Kaori shook her head, "It's an honor serving the princess." She sat down and began buttering her bread, "I hope this meal will suit your tastes." She smiled nervously, "I wasn't quite sure what you liked."

Azula took a bite and looked at her with wide eyes, "No! It's good!"

"Really?" the woman clasped her hands together, "That's wonderful!" then she too took another bite of her meal.

"Better than the chef's breakfast." Azula murmured as she took another bite into her meal.

Kaori's eyes widen and a warm smile appeared on her face.

* * *

"Come on Toph!" the waterbender urged as she struggled to get the earthbender up.

"Ten more minutes…" the blind bandit mumbled as she continued to doze off.

"Ugh…" Katara slapped her forehead running through ideas, finally one popped up, as result a sly looked appeared on her face.

Creeping over to the end of Toph's bed, she reached for the girl's feet, _'We'll see just how she reacts to this…'_

Cautiously, but quickly she began to tickle to girl's feet.

It certainly didn't take long before the earthbender bolted awake with sarcastic laughter, "Oh, ho, ho, ho…Suguar Queen tried a new tactic for once was successful."

Swinging her feet over the bed she grumbled, "What about breakfast now?"

Katara scowled, "Why not brush you hair first Toph?" she took out a comb from the drawer beside her and began brushing Toph's hair.

"Jeez…your hair is all matted up." She sighed, "How troublesome."

"Sorry to be so troublesome." The blind girl grumbled back as Katara finally finished brushing her hair and put the brush away, "Come on, I already made breakfast, let's just hope nobody ate it."

"Eh? Everyone else is awake?"

"Nope." The waterbender answered.

"Shouldn't we be a bit quieter?" Toph asked as she crossed her arms walking behind Katara who just waved her hand, "Who cares about them."

Toph grinned, "I like this kind of attitude of yours, Katara."

"Don't get too used to it." The waterbender quickly added as they entered the kitchen only to find Momo reaching out for their meals when Katara picked up the lemur and looked at him with disapproval, "Momo…"

"Let's eat already, and gets this over with." Toph said as she began to eat her breakfast, as Katara took her seat and began as well.

A smile appeared on Water Tribe girl's face, _'She may not look like it, but she's actually looking forward for this…'_

"So where is this shop Katara?" the earthbender looked around the marketplace that wasn't too busy yet.

"Over there." She took the blind girl's hand and dragged her over to where they would find the shop.

Placing her hand on the knob she opened the door, "Hello?"

Erika appeared from the back and smiled at the two girls, "Ah Katara, nice to see you again." She glanced at Toph, "So this must be your friend Toph."

"Hi." The earthbender said as she looked around, "You got a lot of stuff here."

"I'm glad you noticed." The shop keeper approached them and took both of their hands and led them into the back, "Come here girls, my special limited editions are in the back."

"Limited editions?" Katara and Toph glanced at each other as they were dragged off into the back.

* * *

Aang yawned as he entered the kitchen and smelled something delicious. With that, he hurried into the kitchen only to find Sokka sitting at the table, Haru leaning against the wall at the other side of kitchen while Zuko was cooking breakfast.

Aang looked at them, "Huh?" picking up a note he read, "Here's breakfast, just heat it by putting your breakfast into the pot and using the spark rocks to light the fire…Katara."

He glanced up once more, "Then why is Zuko cooking breakfast right now?"

"Haru…" Zuko growled as he stirred the meal in the pot.

"I said that it wasn't my fault."

Aang took a seat beside Sokka and looked at him, "What happened?"

Sokka sighed as he pointed to Haru, "_He_ spilled all of our meals while he tried to heat it up himself, which was a bad idea to begin with." Then he pointed to Zuko, "And so that is why Zuko is making us breakfast."

"Oh." The avatar looked at Zuko and grinned, "So will it be ready soon?"

The airbender only received a glare from the firebender.

'_Probably not.'_ He thought as he laughed nervously and tried to pick up a conversation with Sokka.

* * *

"Wow…" Katara gasped.

"So my prediction was correct!" Erika laughed gleefully as she clasped her hands together.

"Why are you guys looking at me like that!?" Toph exclaimed as she blushed, "Even I, don't even know what I look like!"

"Toph you look fantastic! No, stunning beautiful!" Katara exclaimed as she took the earthbender's hands, "You look gorgeous!"

Toph's cheeks grew more red, "ARG! STOP SAYING THOSE STUPID THINGS!" she scowled as she turned back into the changing room.

"We're getting that one for sure!" Katara said eagerly as Erika smiled back and held out a dress for her to try on, "Now it's your turn."

Katara took the dress and went into the changing room that was beside Toph.

The Blind Bandit groaned as she handed the dress to Erika who smiled at her, "So what did you think?"

Toph looked at her feet, "It _felt_ nice."

The elderly woman smiled and walked over to a shelf and looked at the masks that were laid out. She tapped her chin looking through all of them, "Which one would be suitable for you…"

"Suitable for what?" Toph asked as she approached the lady who looked over to her, "Well, it _is_ a masquerade!" her smile grew wider, "Actually to be truthful, this festival is actually based off an old folk's tale." She reached for a specific mask and held it out for Toph to try on, "Here try it on; although not too many believe that it is actually true, when it is."

Katara came out of the changing room and looked in the mirror, "This is nice!" she turned to Erika who shook her head, "It's not quite right…" the shop clerk went to fetch another one as the waterbender asked, "How do you know that it's true?"

Erika appeared from the front of the shop and held another dress out for Katara, "Because I witness it."

"Witness?" Toph asked as she took a seat on a stool, "What do you mean by that?"

Erika laughed, "Well you see it had happened to one of my good friends back then." She closed her eyes and smiled warmly at the memory, "As the tale goes, two people who hated each other's guts fell deeply in love with each other and remained together till death pulled them apart." She looked over at the two girls, who stared at her with a confused look on their faces, Katara was first to make a comment, "How could someone possibly fall in love with somebody they hate?"

Erika waved a finger at Katara, "That because during the masquerade, everyone has a mask on." She began, "When we where a mask, we can usually show out true colors without shying back knowing that nobody would know who you really are." She closed her eyes, "Without a mask, they could be or are a different person." She opened her brown eyes again, "It really depends on their nature."

She paused to think of a good example, "Ah, think about the _Painted Lady_!"

Katara stiffened as she heard her second identity, "What about her?"

Erika handed Katara another dress before continuing, "Well, she is said to be a woman who wants to help people but decided to disguise herself fearing of what the villagers would have thought of her if they realized who she really was."

Katara laughed nervously to herself, "No kidding…" she walked into the changing room again.

"So are you saying that a mask gives people confidence?" the blind girl asked looking at Erika who nodded, "Exactly." She smiles, "As I like to say; a knowing that you're beautiful gives you confidence that you could never get from anyone else but yourself."

"Is that proverb?" Toph asked.

"I have no idea." Erika answered honestly as she glanced at Katara who just came out of the changing room, "Hm, that's not quite right either…" she tapped her chin to think when an idea finally came to mind, "Just hang on a second dear, I'll check upstairs."

Once the elderly woman was out of the room, the two girls looked at each other laughing nervously, "Just _how many_ dresses does she have?"

"Here we are!" Erika came bursting into the room and handed Katara the dress, "Here you go dear, I'll be right back, in the mean time try on the dress."

"Uh, okay." Katara turned and went to the changing room.

"She's sure excited about all this." Toph joked as she crossed one leg over the other.

"Aren't all shop owners supposed to be?" Katara replied while changing, "Oh yeah, now that you mentioned it, she said that she doesn't get as many customers as she use to."

"I wonder why?" Toph said sarcastically.

"Toph!" the teenager scolded the preteen.

"What?"

"Here it is." Erika returned from (who knows where) and asked, "Are you ready Katara?"

"Ah, yes. Just a second."

Katara opened the curtain and was thrown off her feet as Erika squealed, "I KNEW THAT THIS WOULD BE PERFECT!"

Katara blushed as she looked into the mirror, "Wow…"

Erika smiled and walked up to her and fixed the dress a bit before taking a step back, "It's perfect on you."

"T-thanks." The waterbender stuttered.

"Ah, it looks like even Katara gets embarrass!"

Katara looked at Toph and frowned, "Are you saying that you thought I wasn't human!?"

"Who knows…" the earthbender grinned.

Clapping her hands she smiled at the two benders, "Well then, shall we get started with your hair?"

Toph and Katara looked at her with wide eyes, "Hair?"

* * *

"We're almost here."

Azula looked around staring at the fresh green fields, "Mika used to always walk all the way to the palace from here."

Kaori shook her head, "No, not all the time, she sometimes stayed at my house, but usually she gets a lift by some of her neighbors that work in town."

"I can't believe that people would share things like this." Azula answer in bewilderment.

The two of them borrowed a horse and wagon so that they could put Mika's body in the back.

The elderly woman chuckled, "Well, when you are good to people, and_ sometimes_ they are good to you back, but unfortunately not everyone is like that. That is why it's good to know people inside out." She pulled the reins and stopped the horse and pointed to a farm house not too far from where they were, "That's where she lives." She whipped the reins again and the wagon began to move again.

'_What am I going to say…?'_ Azula thought hopelessly.

Kaori nodded the princess having a hard time trying to figure out what to say and patted her knee, "Your highness, try not to think about it too much."

Azula looked at her with wide eyes as the elderly woman gave her a supporting smile.

Nodding she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Ah! Hey mom! It's Kaori!" shouted a child who was running up to the wagon, and was soon followed up by its other siblings.

The princess's eyes widen in terror, _'I can't let these kids see their sister dead!'_ her body began to tremble as she thought of their reactions.

"Ah Kaori! You brought someone with you!" the wagon finally stopped and the children began to gather around.

Azula slowly removed her hood from her head and stood up, she bit her lip hoping to suppress her emotions, especially her tears that were stinging her eyes to let them fall.

Then the older siblings and their mother arrived. Just then more weight was added to her shoulders.

The mother and gasped as she imeaditly recongnzed Azula and bowed down before her, the children looked over to their mother and their two older siblings beside her who bowed down as well, "Why are you guys bowing?"

"Children bow, now!" their mother ordered in a rushed tone.

"Please stand." Azula waved her hand motioning them to stand, "I have business with your family."

'_Great opening Azula…'_ her inner thought scolded her.

The mother looked at her in confusion then at Kaori, then back at Azula, "May I pardon of what kind of business?" she paused to think then suddenly exclaimed, "Does it have to do with Mika?" she gasped, "Did she cause you trouble!? I am terribly sorry-,"

"No, I am sorry." Azula interrupted. Struggling to keep her voice straight.

Kaori noticed this and began, "Ah children, didn't you tell me you got new born pigicks?"

The children grinned, "Oh yeah! Follow us!"

Kaori sent a nodd at the princess who nodded back.

Once the children out of sight, Azula took a deep breath and bowed, "I am so, terribly sorry for these circumstances!"

The mother and the other two siblings exchanged glances, then looked at the princess who bowed before them, "What happened?"

Azula stood up straight and began shaking, she couldn't hold it back anymore, _'Just a little longer…just hang on a little longer…'_

The princess slowly began to explain what happened the previous evening watched the mother and the siblings break down into tears.

She told them the good things that Mika have done and that it would mark her as an honorable citizen that served and protected the Royal Family.

"Mika was more than just a servant." She said as her voice trembled, "She was my first loyal friend."

The child's mother looked up at the princess and asked, "What happened to her body?"

Azula forced up a small weak smile, "I managed to save her." She turned to the wagon and showed the family her dead body. The mother broke down once more but smiled and bowed to Azula, "Thank you so much you highness!" more tears began to fall, "Saving her body means a lot to me even though she's gone." She took the princess's hands, "Now we can burry her at her favorite place."

Azula smiled weakly, "She'll never be forgotten." Her voice began to crack, "I'll come by and visit every now and then when I have time." She squeezed the mother's hand, "Unfortuntitly I have to return to the palace otherwise my father would scold me." She laughed as she shook, "Not like he's already going have to scold me."

"Thank you again your highness!"

The family bowed down to her as she began to walk down the road as the older brother shoulder, "Your highness, would you like a ride?"

Azula turned and pulled up a forced smile, "No, I'm fine thank you, my lift is nearby anyways."

She turned away from the farm and began to sprint, releasing all of her emotions that she fought to hold back that entire time came out.

Tears kept falling endlessly as she swayed along the path, stumbling every now and then.

Approaching the outskirts of town, she spotted Yuuko standing in the distance.

Running up to him she jumped at him and hugged him tightly and began to cry loudly, "Why...WHY!?" hot tears were going to stain her face once more.

Yuuko looked at her with sad eyes, "I asked your father to grant you time to rest."

Azula looked up as with wide eyes as he looked at her and asked, "Where would you like to go?"

The princess hugged Yuuko tighter as she whispered, "Ember Island."

"Very well." Yuuko replied, looking out at the ocean at he whispered, "Ember Island it is."

**End of Chapter 20**

* * *

**A/N:** Whoa, wow, once more; my fingers moved on their own! I'm starting to get more and more pulled into this story. (Yikes, it's already 2:16 am!) Dad is gonna kill me if he catches me awake…

Wow, let's just say…this was one hell of an emotional chapter. (Did I make Azula too OC?)

I suppose this chapter mainly focused on Azula. (Well I hope it did. LOL)

Well I really wanted to have a character development for her; you know…EVERY character needs to have some sort of development throughout a story.

Also, when Zuko had to cook breakfast for everyone because Haru screwed up, well I'll tell you this, I took that idea from another one of my top 3 favorite shows: La Corda d'Oro (Which is my #1, Avatar is now #2) I believe you would see the scene in episode 8…The Secret Duet. (Also one of my most favorite episode of the season!)

Ha, ha, okay flashing back to** Chapter 19 Reviews:**

I swear I laughed when I read that someone considered the "so-called duel" between Zuko and Katara was the ACTUAL duel.

Let me tell you right now.

IT WAS NOT THE REAL DUEL! THE REAL DUEL WILL HAPPEN VERY SOON!

Now things are getting interesting.

**Please review! I love it when you do!**

_Chapter 21_

_Coming Soon!_


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

_  
Clapping her hands Erika smiled at the two benders, "Well then, shall we get started with your hair?"_

_Toph and Katara looked at her with wide eyes, "Hair?"_

Toph took a heavy sigh as she crossed her arms, "Tell me again."

* * *

"Tell what again?" the waterbender asked.

"Why are we having our hair done?" the Blind Bandit asked in an annoyed tone as they waited for their hair to dry, since after all; they _were_ in the Fire Nation, Katara's waterbending was limited.

The Water Tribe girl just sighed back, "I wasn't expecting this either. I makes me wonder if she had this all planned out."

"Yeah seriously." Toph leaned back in her chair and looked at Katara, "How long have we been here for?"

"No idea. But the boys shouldn't worry too much." The waterbender took a deep breath before exhaling slowly.

"I think they should be worrying more about themselves." Toph added as she looked over her shoulder, "Where is that old lady anyways!?"

Katara shrugged, "How do you expect me to know?"

"You have eyes." She replied simply, "You can't expect me to see anything with this wooden floor."

Katara blinked and leaned her head to the sides, "Eh? Then are you saying you can't see, period?"

Toph groaned, "No, that isn't what I meant. It's sort of like sand, but I adapted to Sand better than wood." She took a heavy huff, "I don't remember having earth in wood." Her eyes glanced up at the ceiling, "Although I could sense minimum vibrations." She shifted her head towards the waterbender, "Do you understand?"

The waterbender shrugged, "I suppose I do and don't."

"What is that supposed to mean!?" exclaimed Toph as she sat up straight and kicked her feet lightly against the wooden floors, "Where is she! I am getting sick of waiting around."

"Patience Toph, she'll be here soon." Katara said in a motherly tone of voice as she too sat up straight after leaning back for who knows how long.

"Ah! Sorry for the wait!" Erika came hustling out of the back with a box of materials in hand, "I finally found what I was looking for."

"Speak of the devil." Toph whispered under her breath. Katara shot her a glare even though she knew that the earthbender wouldn't see it anyways.

The waterbender turned back to the store owner, "What was it you were looking for?"

Erika smiled sweetly, "Ah, I was looking for hair accessories." She glanced over Katara's shoulder at Toph's head, and pouted, "Why did let her keep her hair up in that sort of bun for so long! It must've been heavy!"

Toph blinked, "It wasn't heavy."

Katara nodded, "Well now that you did mention it, she does have long hair."

Erika nodded and clasped her hands together, "It's such a waste to hide such beautiful hair!"

Toph blushed slightly, "Uh, um, what are you talking about?" she felt the elderly woman's warm hands on her shoulders, "You are a beautiful girl. But you were just hiding it." She smiled at Toph and glanced back at Katara, "You too, you are both lovely young ladies." She turned to look back at Toph, "However, I do understand that she wouldn't want anything in her face."

The Blind Bandit blinked, "Eh? But I have bangs that hit my eyes all the times. So you can't say-,"

"No, no, no." Erika interrupted, "That's not what I meant." She felt Toph's hair nodded, "Alright, we can get started now." She turned to Katara and smiled, "Will you care to help me? I think it'll be good if you learn a few new tricks for her hair so that she can have different hair styles every now and then."

Katara nodded and picked up the box that Erika just had and handed it to her as the elderly woman nodded and reached out to feel Katara's hair, she frowned, "We'll have to wait a bit longer for your hair to dry. I have something special in mind." She squeezed Toph's small built shoulders, "Don't worry, I have something special in mind for you as well."

And so they began.

* * *

"As usual, you are a great chef Zuko!" Sokka said just after he swallowed down the last of his fourth bowl.

The others watched him warily; the firebender on the other hand poked his food, "Thanks I guess."

Aang noticed a different aura mood around Zuko and decided to try and brighten him up, "So, uh Zuko. How am I progressing on my firebending?"

Sokka grew interested and pointed his chopstick at Zuko as he helped himself to his fifth bowl, "Yeah really, how is doing? Anywhere near master yet?"

Zuko frowned slightly, "Unfortunately he has a lot to work on." His eyes shifted to the avatar, "I feel like there is something he's holding back."

"Holding back?" Aang questioned, "Why would you suspect that?"

The former prince of the Fire Nation put down his chop sticks and sighed, he glanced at the airbender with s serous expression on his face, "I can't explain why, but I _know_ that you are holding back quite a bit." He paused thinking something over before adding, "Or, that is just how weak you are." Picking up his bowl, he stood up and pushed his chair back in. Turning to the door he did not face the airbender, "If that's the case." He began softly, "You are not going to stand a chance against the Fire Lord." He looked over his shoulder and added in a serious tone of voice, "And because of that; it just tells you that if you can't beat the Fire Lord in your current state, you will be forced to use the Avatarstate." He stopped as a dark frown appeared on his face, "That is, if you are still capable of using it." With that he left the dinning room, and took his breakfast along with him.

'_That's pretty harsh.'_ A voice commented.

'_What else you do expect me to say?'_ he sighed, _'It's only the truth.'_

'_I can't argue against that.' _The voice paused, _'__**They**__ are coming.'_

Zuko stopped walking frowned, "What do you mean?" he asked out loud, "Who are talking about?"

The voice didn't reply.

"Damn it." He walked out to the gardens and decided to eat there so that he could things over.

'_This can't be good.' _

* * *

"Your highness?"

Azula slowly opened her puffy eyes and yawned, "What is it?" she asked tiredly.

Yuuko looked at the island ahead, "We're almost there, I suppose you could sleep a little longer."

"No it's fine." She said and stared at the island, "I got to redeem my character."

"Redeem your character?" Yuuko asked. Now he was confused.

"I mean by becoming ruthless again." She snapped, "I have been a cry baby over some ridiculous servant girl! Remind me why on earth I cried over such a thing!" she scowled.

Her sudden change of character startled the guardian.

Yuuko sighed, _'Your sudden change of attitude and mood worries me.'_

"You cried because she was the first person to touch your heart." He answered simply.

His eyes widen when he heard heartless laughter behind him, "Are you kidding me! Some mere _servant girl_? Reaching my heart! Over my dead body." She sneered, "I am so ashamed of my actions."

"It's not good when you try and pretend that nothing happened your highness, it's unhealthy for you." He said slowly. Now her actions were starting to worry him more than usual.

"Who gave you permission to comment back at me!" she snapped angrily, tossed her loose hair out of her face and tucked her bangs behind her ears, "I don't remember granting you such permission."

"No one your highness." He answered in a low tone.

"_Exactly_, so don't reply unless I grant you permission." She barked as she crossed her arms.  
Suddenly a dark smirk appeared on her face, "Do you feel that Yuuko?"

Yuuko's eyes widen for the second time that day and looked over to his princess, "Yes, I did." He felt shivers run down his spine as he watched a cold, cruel expression appear on the princess's face, "It's time to get rid of that foolish brother of mine." She looked pleased, "Are you on the same page as I am?"

The guardian nodded slowly and frowned as he turned back to face the island, deep thoughts echoed through his head, _'It seems the time has finally come.'_

For some odd reason, he was uncertain about the battle that the princess has in mind ahead.

* * *

The boys stood in the middle of the lounge with their outfit in hand. For no reason at all, they all stood in the middle of an awkward silence.

"So." Sokka decided to start a conversation, "Anyone has any specific plans for tonight?"

The boys looked at him with confusion Aang was first to question him, "What do you by that, Sokka."

The Water Tribe warrior did another one of his famous face palm and groaned loudly, "Man, how could you not know what I'm talking about!"

The boys just shrugged, the warrior groaned once more in response, "You know…Getting food, checking out the ladies, find a date for the evening, etcetera…" he looked at the others who stared at him with wide eyes, Haru on the other hand looked disgusted, "_You_, are willing to hit on _Fire Nations_ girls!?" he shook his head, "I never thought you out of all people try and date people from the bloody nation that killed your mother."

Sokka frowned and walked up to Haru and poked his chest, "You can't say that all people of the Fire Nation are just like the Fire Lord and the Psycho Princess."

The earthbender frowned, "How could you possibly say that?"

Teo sighed and patted Aang on his shoulder, "I'm out of here. I'm going to continue on my project, I can't stand being around that guy when he's like this."

The avatar nodded and watched Teo wheel out of the room, leaving him alone with the two older boys.

'_Maybe I should go and see what Zuko is up to…'_ he thought as he too decided to leave the lounge where now Sokka and Haru were arguing.

"Are you implying that other nations have dark ideas like the Fire Lord?" Haru snapped, he pushed Sokka back who kept his balance and argued back, "Unfortunately Haru, unlike you; we have been all over the world! We _know_ reality!"

"Are you saying that _I_ don't know that?!" the earthbender exploded as he balled up his fists and growled, "How could you possibly say that!?"

Sokka took a deep sigh and held his hands up, "We should end it here Haru, we don't need to create a bigger problem for the group."

"Now you are saying it's my fault!?"

The warrior looked away as he replied, "I never said that, I said let's just drop the argument, it's a waste of time anyways."

"Oh, right. Like I could possibly ignore everything you just said." The earthbender snorted his hands now on his hips, "We end it the manly way."

Sokka shrugged, "Or we could end it the girl's way, which in this case would make our lives a lot easier."

Pivoting his heel, he turned to leave the lounge, only to be taken back by surprise when Haru suddenly got the hold of his shirt and growled coldly, "Do you really think you could walk off on me like that?"

Sokka glared back at him, "Are you really that desperate to be dropped off in the middle of now where?" In one swift movement, he managed free himself from Haru's grip and had the earthbender on the ground with his food on Haru's back.

"Sokka!"

The Water Tribe warrior shifted his eyes from the earthbender's back, to the door where now the young avatar stood with wide eyes, "What's going on here?"

Sokka released his foot from Haru's back and scratched the back of his head with an annoyed, serious look on his face, "Just dealing things the _manly_ way." He shoved his hands into his pockets and left the lounge, leaving the earthbender who was crawling back onto his feet and the airbender who just watched him leave the room.

"What just happened?" the avatar glanced back at the earthbender, "I left just for a spilt two minutes, not even, and something bad happened!" he frowned, "Would you care to tell me what?"

"It was nothing." The annoyed earthbender grunted as he stood up and tossed his long hair over his shoulder, "I couldn't careless about this festival; I'm staying here this evening."

Aang looked at him with a disappointed look, "Well that sucks."

* * *

"She's crazy I tell you!"

The two companions walked up the steep hill towards the Royal Fire Nation cottage, "I swear to god, she is like-,"

The waterbender cut off the earthbender almost too quickly, "Toph, chill, I know you're just not used to having you're hair like that!"

The Blind Bandit scowled and shook her head, trying to get used to the bangs that were parted to the side in a very modern fashioned way.

"It suits you; and besides, now you look like a teenager now." Katara added as she opened the gates, only to find Haru stomping his way towards them.

As if the conversation never started, Toph snickered as she kicked her foot lightly on the ground, which in result blocked the annoyed teenager's path.

Haru shook his head up, and opened his mouth to say something, but only to be left speechless.

Toph had a mischief grin on her face, "So, you were about to say?" crossing her arms over her stomach she tapped her foot.

Katara stared at Haru and waved a hand by his face, snapping him out of daze, "What's the matter Haru? Did something happen between you and the guys?"

Haru, as if hypothesized shook his head slowly, "No, not really, it's just that Sokka got me an outfit that doesn't exactly suit me well." Toph frowned at his answer.

"Really? Would you like to show me, I'm sure you're just not used to Fire Nation clothes."

Toph looked at her, _'Is she really _that_ dense?' _shrugging the matter off of her mind she grabbed Haru by the arm, "Come on Pretty Boy, Katara has other things to do."

"Huh?" Katara stared at the girl. She only caught Toph's frown at the last glance that she nearly missed.

Haru lied about something. That was the only answer that would give Toph a good enough reason to drag the earthbender away.

Katara smiling features faded and glanced up at the cottage. Her eyes caught a glimpse red on the rooftop.

Sighing, she swung the bag behind her back and walked into the cottage, only to find Aang running throughout the halls.

She raised an eyebrow at his immaturity before calling out for him like a mother calling for her child who's in trouble, "Aang."

The airbender was in front of her in flash. He greeted her with a goofy grin as his cheeks were turning rosy, "Oh hey Katara. Are you guys done?" he looked away for a second and turned back, "Did you get your hair done?"

Katara brushed off Aang's childish manners and smiled, "Ah yes, does it look good?"

The Avatar grinned, "You always look pretty Katara."

A small blush appeared on her face, "Oh please, I don't always…" she liked the flattery.

"Anyways," she began as she quickly switched the topic back to her original, "What were you doing running around the cottage for?"

Aang lowered his head for second before looking at her deep sapphire eyes, "Um, actually; I'm trying to find Zuko." He looked around once more, "I can't find him."

The waterbender's lips budged as she suppressed a small giggle, "I think I saw him on the roof." She smirked as she added, "I guess he's just not used to all of the noise in the gang."

"Do you think so?" Aang paused as he recalled what happened in the kitchen earlier that Zuko told him, _'You are not going to stand a chance against the Fire Lord.'_

"Aang?" the young water tribe maiden snapped him out of his thoughts. He sighed inwardly before rubbing the back of his head and asked in a very quiet voice, "Katara, do you think I will be able to handle the Fire Lord in this current state?"

The waterbender frowned, "Of course not." He looked up surprised, "You still haven't mastered the basics of Firebending." She took a deep breath before softly saying, "You need to get over the burning incident." She frowned; "If you don't…" she trailed off, "Anyways." She started quickly to change the topic as fast as possible. She didn't want to add more stress to the young avatar's shoulders, or maybe she already have. "I'm getting ready for the festival; tell Toph I'll be waiting for her in my room with her dress."

The airbender glanced at her, "So you are still going?"

Katara laughed, "Of course I'm going! We could pick up information there you know. It's not an event to miss." She skipped down the halls and made a sharp left turn.

Aang leaned back against the wall and let out a heavy sigh, "So this is how life has to be with a war going on for 100 years." He closed his eyes and opened them again, "Everything has to do with war, war, war." He clenched his teeth together as his fist trembled, "I got to end this. I got to end this stupid war!"

* * *

"Your highness, we arrived." Yuuko said as he stood at the entrance of the village, he turned his head to glance at the princess, "Where would you like to go?"

"Let's go to my cottage." She snapped as she walked into the village where people wandered around preparing for the festival.

She paused and observed the decorations, a cruel smirk appeared on her face, she looked over her shoulder at Yuuko who stood behind her, his eyes widen slightly at the look on her face, "It seems we arrived at the perfect time." She looked at the festival and back at Yuuko, "This is a perfect opening ceremony! This will be a festival to remember of Fire Nation's history!" she began cackling like a witch, "History, be ready! The duel of the century is about to happen on Ember Island! The island of destiny!"

* * *

**End of Chapter 21**

A/N: ARG! I AM NOT SATIFIED AT ALL! Not only because the finale ripped me off and that I totally lost my plan, now this chapter sucks! ARG! Heads KeyboardThis is killing me!

Other than that, I'll PROMISE, _**PROMISE**_ you this: the next chapter will start getting intense! Let the REAL DUEL BEGIN! **PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Chapter 22**

**GO AHEAD AND READ IT!!**


	23. Chapter 22

**Previously on Escaping the Fire**

"_It seems we arrived at the perfect time." She looked at the festival and back at Yuuko, "This is a perfect opening ceremony! This will be a festival to remember of Fire Nation's history!" she began cackling like a witch, "History, be ready! The duel of the century is about to happen on Ember Island! The island of destiny!"_

* * *

**Chapter 22**

"Hey, guys come on already! We got to hurry up! The festival is about to start!" the young air monk shouted in a very excited tone, as Sokka smoothed out his outfit and placed his mask on his face. His eyes shifted to Haru who had his arms crossed and an annoyed expression on his face, wearing a brown robe with the absolute minimum color of red on it. The earthbender still had to put on his mask that was still in his hands.

Teo wheeled over to the group, he placed his mask over his face before snickering, "So you are going with us after all, Haru?"

The stubborn earthbender snorted, "I am going for the festival, I am simply going because Katara urged me to."

The three other boys just glanced at each other thinking just about the same thing, '_Why am I not surprised?_'

"Okay, we're all set to go!" the waterbender stepped into the room and fiddled with her mask in her hands.

All the boys blushed (excluding Sokka who just nodded in approval and Zuko who wasn't in sight), at Katara's appearance.

"What? Uh, does it look okay?" she asked, her cheeks were slightly rosy from the attention she got from the three boys.

"Absolutely perfect!" they all said almost too excitedly (excluding Sokka once more).

Katara's appearance was indeed stunning. Erika did a magnificent job on Katara's hair; she somehow made it curly but not matted like, and made her hair very silky. Her hair was pulled up into a formal Fire Nation tradition, almost the same as her previous style when they first entered the Fire Nation, but this time it looked a lot more Noble like and much more beautiful.

Her dress on the other hand wasn't too fancy as if for a ball room dance, but a casual formal island trend. The dress only reached up to her knees, (it was sort of like Ty Lee's dress from **The Beach**) that was deep scarlet red.

Her mask in her hands was black, but had a bright red outline tracing the mask's edges in a very interesting pattern.

Last but not least she wore simple black slippers that would make it very easy for her to run around in as well as being comfortable at the same time.

The waterbender smiled sweetly as she waved her hand over to Toph as she tapped her foot, "Come on out Toph, you look fabulous."

Toph pouted as she walked into the room. Her cheeks were already rosy from embarrassment.

"So what do you guys think?" Katara asked as she squeezed the young Blind Bandit's shoulders.

The boys (this time including Sokka) were left speechless.

Sokka was first to break the silence, "Is that really her Katara?!" the waterbender nodded back in reply.

"NO WAY!" the boys shouted as they backed away to the other side of the room.

"I told you it was bad." Toph growled.

"Stop talking nonsense Toph." Katara snapped as she glanced at the boys, "Are you guys _that_ surprised?"

"Of course." They all replied.

"See?" the waterbender insured the uncertain earthbender as she fidgeted with her thumbs.

Aang decided to try and help out the situation, "Yeah, really Toph; you look fantastic." He looked to the other guys, "Right?"

Sokka nodded, "Absolutely."

Teo and Haru nodded, "We agree."

Toph blushed as a small smile tugged upon her lips.

The earthbender wore a very cute outfit. She too wore a red dress, but more of a darker shade though. The dress length was the same as Katara's, but it had two light layers, the top shorter than the bottom that had small frills. She too wore black slippers that were punched out from the bottom (as usual).

Her hair though, was probably the best part.  
Erika did a wonderful job trimming the bangs and parting them to the side in a very modern fashioned style.

The rest, because her hair was actually so long, Erika did a few layers so that she could pull it back into a high wicked ponytail.

And to finish the touch, she threw in a fine hair accessory that was a small golden dragon pin to poke into the ponytail (sort of like the Fire Nation crowns in a way).

"So everyone is ready?"

Everyone turned to the firebender who leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed.

"Huh? So you are really not going?" Sokka asked as he approached Zuko, sliding the mask onto his face he adjusted the strings on the back of his head that held the mask.  
The mask _for once_ was suitable for the Water Tribe Warrior.

The former prince shook his head, "No. But I'm here to remind you, be extra cautious. Don't get too carried away and do reckless things." He frowned, "Most of all do not reveal your bendings or your nationality." He paused to make sure everyone was listening, "And most importantly, do not take off your mask once you walk into the festival."

"Eh? Why is that?" Aang asked as he pulled his hat over his head and slid the mask on as well.

"Because, who knows; there could be bounty posters out there, and not to mention, your faces and as well as my own is quite famous among the nation. It won't be very hard to get caught walking around with just a disguise."

The other nodded as they all adjusted their masks and headed out the door.

Everyone except Katara, who stood there in the middle of hall with her arms crossed, "Are you sure you don't want to join us?"

The firebender sighed, "I am quite certain." A frown appeared on his face, "I'll guard the cottage. If anything happens I'll make sure I get to you guys first."

Katara shrugged, "Whatever you say Prince Charming."

"Don't call me that." The firebender snapped in an annoyed tone as he shot a glare at the waterbender who just giggled, "Whatever, whatever, I'm off!" the waterbender opened the door and closed it behind her as she hurried out to catch up with the others.

'_Why wouldn't you just go?_'

Zuko rolled his eyes, "I expected you to know better than that." He turned away from the door and made his way to his bedroom.

'_Did you feel it?'_

"That is why I am staying."

'_So you know that __**they**__ are here?'_

"I don't know who _**they**_ are, but I am pretty sure they're only going to cause problems." He stopped, "Am I not right"

'_Personally I think you should go the festival.'_

"And drag innocent people into this. No thanks."

'_You won't be able to handle them on your own.'_

"I suspected you would say something like that." The former prince muttered as he rubbed he back of his head and ran his fingers through his hair exasperatedly, "As much as I don't want to drag people into this…" he paused, "If you insist me to go, I'll go." he entered his room and walked over to a bag laying on his bed and picked it up.

'_Right now, I __**insist**__ you to go.'_ The voice replied calmly after a long pause between them, _'It'll be better if you had someone watching your back.'_ There was a heavy sigh that made Zuko stop what he was doing and looked out the window where the sun was setting beyond the horizon of the ocean, "What is it?"

'_It's nothing.'_ The voice was quieter this time.

"I doubt it's nothing, but I'm not going to bothering asking since you won't tell me anyways…" the firebender withdrew an black and red outfit, almost similar to the clothes he wore last at Ba Sin Se. He frowned at it for a second as harsh memories flashed back at him.

"I wonder how's uncle is doing." He muttered suddenly as he took out a mask that would only cover his eyes and his scar. He smirked for a second, "It would've been funny if I had the Blue Spirit Mask." A small snicker escaped his lips, "I can picture just how chaotic the festival would become."

'_Don't think about such things now Zuko.'_ The voice snapped at him.

"I was joking around." He answered in an annoyed tone, "Do you really think I would do that a thing?"

'_If you were still haunting the avatar, I would be pretty certain that you would.'_ The voice sneered.

The firebender frowned at the wall, "Give me a break."

* * *

"Oi, Katara! Look at all te food stands!" the water tribe warrior cried out excitedly, "What should I try first!?"

The waterbender sighed heavily as she snapped open her fan that was previously tucked into the large sash around her waist and fanned herself, looking around she observed Toph doing the same thing.

Her eyes wandered up at the half evening and half daylight sky above them. When the stars, the moon and the sun are found all together, decorating the skies each day at a certain time.

A small smile appeared on her face as her eyes darted from the sky to Haru and Teo, along with Avatar who was trying to pull the hungry warrior the opposite direction from the food stalls.

She adjusted her mask and made her way over to the Blind Bandit who was 'observing' the festival.

"Hey Toph." She began as the earthbender quickly covered her mouth and pulled her into a dark corner in between two shops.

With the mask on the earth bender's face, it was impossible to see her expression. The only thing that the waterbender could do is be quiet and wait patiently.

It didn't take as long as she thought it would've taken when Toph finally removed her small hand from Katara's mouth, she looked at the water maiden sharply, "We got an unwelcome visitor."

"What?" Katara stared at the Blind Bandit with wide eyes behind the mask, "Who is it?"

The earthbender looked away from the waterbender almost too suddenly. Before the teenager knew it the preteen already grabbed her wrist and broke into a sprint, the waterbender yelped, **"Toph! What's going on?"**

* * *

"Your highness-,"

"What is it?"

The princess turned to face the guardian behind her who had a worried expression on his face, "Wouldn't he be at the festival?"

The firebending prodigy suddenly let out an eerie cackle, "Knowing just how human my brother is, he would try and keep as many innocent bystanders out of this duel between us. If he knows me well enough, he'll remain at the cottage, that is if he is there, if not, he would most likely be somewhere else alone and far from town." She stopped, "As you should know as well, I will not hesitate to take a villager as a hostage." She let out another cruel cackle, "Ah, it feels good to be this way again." A cruel smirk tugged upon her lips, "It's so _refreshing_."

The guardian looked away before he glanced back at his royal master, who had quickly started again, "And it seems that his guardian hasn't been summoned yet." She glanced at Yuuko, "Explain to me why your brother is supposedly still alive? I thought there was a time limit?"

Yuuko rubbed the back of his head before answering, "My brother is the only one who has unique abilities as I do. However, they may not be the same, but in a way it helps him stay _alive_ until he's summoned. As much as we share the same blood in our veins, our abilities are almost opposite…" he paused, "Or rather, as a correction; different." He looked up at the princes, "As far as I know, one of his abilities is his bright wisdom." He frowned, "And it most likely that he is warning your brother about our appearance." Another heavy sigh escaped his lips, "It's important not to underestimate my twin."

Azula stopped walking and looked over her shoulder, "Twins?" she frowned, "I never heard about the possibilities as twins being summoned into guardians for the Royal Family…" looking back forward, her shoulders lifted into a shrug, "Whatever, I doubt it's going to make a difference." She snickered, "Unfortunately, my brother isn't strong, but is weak. Even if he tries to summon your brother, it's not going to be possible." She turned around this time and looked at him squared in the eyes, "Maybe somebody should mention to your brother that he's wasting his time."

Yuuko frowned, "If you are considering that my brother isn't as wise as I say, your thoughts will backfire, and it'll be me who has to take control of the situation if it gets out of hand." His tone was serious and cold.

Azula pulled up a sarcastic surprise look onto her face, and held a hand slightly over her mouth in a mockingly, "Oh dear me, did I hurt your feelings? I didn't realize that you cared that much about your brother." A cruel expression replaced her mocking features, "Do remember this clearly. We are to kill both of our brothers. It's quite simple." It was an order, not a reminder.

"I am conscious of that your highness." He looked at the sun that was almost below the horizon. His golden eyes closed for a second before shifting back over to his master, who had her hands on her hips, "Alright, let's hurry up already, I to get this over with as soon as possible." She craned her neck to look over her shoulder again, "Let's go."

* * *

"AH! I LOVE THIS STUFF-HOT!" the water tribe warrior yelped as he enjoyed the delicious fireflakes that he just bought a few minutes ago and held the small bag out to the avatar and the stubborn earthbender, Teo already helped himself early expressing the same reaction.

Aang helped himself to a flake and looked over to Haru who just looked away in disgust.

"Come on man, just try some." Sokka groaned, "It's good. You're missing out of the good stuff."

"As if I'll ever eat bloody food." The earthbender snapped stubbornly. His arms crossed like an obnoxious child.

The boys all sighed together, "He's hopeless."

Aang took another fire flake and spotted Katara and Toph running towards them, "Hey, what's with them?"

"Eh?" the boys turned face the girls that hurried up to them. Toph stopped resting her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath before explaining the exclamation.

"Whoa, what's up guys?"

"Azula here." Toph caught her breath before leaning back straight again, a frown graced her features, "And she's not alone."

"Wait! You mean the Goth Freak, and the Circus Freak is here!?" exclaimed Katara as she rubbed her wrists from the aftermath pain from Toph's grip.

"Hey! Tylee isn't a circus freak. She's cute and bubbly." Sokka said defensively.

Everyone eyed him with an unapproved look on their faces behind their masks.

"What?"

"Forget it. Anyways, it's not those girls, it's some newbie, we haven't seen him before."

"Or maybe we have." Sokka added trying to create suspense.

The others shot him another disapproval look.

"Maybe Zu-," Aang was cut off quickly as Toph and Katara slapped their hands over his mouth, hissing, "Don't mention Sparky's name here."

The girls removed their hands as Sokka Teo shook his head, "I doubt Zuko knows about this newbie." He glanced at the others who stared at him in confusion. The brilliant young inventor shrugged, "Well, you see, Zuko has been with us for a while now, and I'm sure Azula got herself another partner while he was gone. Besides, if she had the same people all the time, it would be too easy to prepare for, right?"

Sokka and Aang applauded stupidly, "Oooh, as expected of Teo."

The girls just rolled their eyes at the boys' reaction and nodded agreeing with Teo, "That's probably it." Katara said as she tossed her hair over her left shoulder and glanced over at Haru who still had that obnoxious childish pout on his face. The waterbender sighed heavily, "What's with him anyways?"

"I think anyone could guess correctly." Sokka shrugged as he threw a handful of fireflakes into his mouth.

"**Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, young and old, please come and gather the circle of destiny! It's time to begin the main event!"**

Everyone looked over their shoulders only to find many couples or boys and girls hurrying over to the main heart of the town.

**"Please come and gather within the Circle of Destiny with your partners everyone!"**

"Ah, it seems like it's time for that Destiny Dance that I've been hearing about for a while now." Sokka said, he tossed his finished bag of fire flakes into the trash barrel before hurrying off, "Come on guys, it's time to party a bit!"

Teo shook his head, "I can't dance, but I'll watch, I think I'll look around for a bit, I won't be far, so don't worry about me." He began to wheel off towards the Destiny Circle where other stalls were put up near by.

"Uh, Katara-,"

"Come on Haru, let's dance! You ought to do something during the festival."

Toph frowned, "Did everyone just forget what I said…" she scowled, "Whatever, at least the phycho freak isn't near by anymore…" she paused as a thought occurred to her and shrugged it off, before snatching the young Airbender's hand, "Come on Twikletoes, I don't want to be left out!"

Aang had a teary look on his face and had a hand reaching out for Katara, "Aw, but I-,"

"You'll get to dance with Sugar-Queen soon enough." She answered almost too quickly, the thought ran through her head again, which made her think through wondering if she should worry or nor.

'No, he'll be okay. Sparky was probably prepared for this already. That's probably why he didn't come to festival…'

"Toph?"

She looked at Aang and blinked, "Ah, it's nothing, come on, let's dance, the sooner the better." She tightened her grip of his hand held in hers and took the lead ahead of him, dragging him to the Destiny Circle.

Aang stared at her with a surprised look on his face, '_She's look cute with a ponytail._' He blinked and shook his head, '_ARG! What are you thinking!? Don't betray Katara now!_'

'_They are here.'_

"I know, that's why I'm already leaving!" Zuko snapped quietly, "Hopefully they won't realize it until they reach the cottage."

He slipped through the trees in the forest and hurried through the edge of the forest.  
The former prince decided to try and sneak through the woods, taking the hard way to the festival, so that way he could get there faster, but then deal with the difficult obstacles that _regular_ people wouldn't be able to do.

_'Stop, and don't move.'_

Zuko paused; his eyes looked on to his far left. He spotted his sister and a man, probably around his age behind her walking up the steep path.

The princess stopped suddenly and glanced at the direction he was hiding.

'_Shit.'_ He thought to himself and the voice that ought to hear him.

'_She saw you, make a run for it Zuko!'_

'_Way ahead of you!'_

A lightning bolt was already launched at him.

* * *

"Do you feel it?"

"I was about to say the same thing." the princess glanced over at the guardian who had replied to her, she frowned and stopped, "Should I fire?"

"He's already conscious that he was found, I wouldn't bother wasting your-,"

The princess already shot a lightning bolt towards her brother.

"He escaped." The guardian glanced over the hill where the festival had already started, "He's going to the festival."

Azula grinned cruelly, "Well this is starting to make things much more interesting."

Before the guardian knew it, the princess already had sprinted off and began the chase.

* * *

Haru blushed as Katara held his hands trying to help him dance. So far, all he had been doing was stepping on her toes, and she was quickly getting tired of the pain.

"Hey, Haru, let's take a break."

"But we just started."

"No, let's take a break." She said almost _too_ innocently.

"Oh, okay." The earthbender eventually agreed as he escorted her out of the dance circle. He looked around and smiled at her, "I'll get you a drink."

"Sure, sure." She said, almost waving him off like a princess, luckily she managed to hold that action back.

Her eyes darted from one couple to another, she soon spotted her bother already found a cute dance partner, and surprisingly enough, he was decent dancer, he was leading her and being a gentleman.

If only he could _act _like a gentleman all the time. Especially to her, like for example; helping her cook, doing some chores, etc…

He ought to get some lessons from Zuko, who actually does those things even though he is prince, or rather, a former prince, raised as a Royal child, who would've probably had servants and maids doing that sort of stuff for him.

She crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at the stars that were close to being blinded out by the light of the multiples torches and lanterns around the festival.

'_It's a nice festival.' _She looked around,_ 'It's quite colorful unlike the Water Tribe ceremonies.'_

"Hey! Look up there!"

She looked up where everyone was looking at. Something caught the crowd's attention.

They were gasps and muttering among the people. Toph and Aang had stopped dancing to look up at the commotion. Sokka as well, Teo was with Haru who had also turned their attention to the commotion too.

Katara's eyes widen as she watched someone dressed in a formal black outfit, a black mask covered most of his face, from the top of his nose to the middle of his forehead.

He stood up in a defensive stance.

A lightning bolt suddenly appeared and was shot towards him. Piercing the ground below him where the people rushed out to dodged it.

Katara's mind when crazy, "Oh god." She whispered.

Azula made her appearance as she jumped onto the same roof top of the man.

"Azula arrived."

* * *

Aang's eyes widen as a familiar sound echoed his ears, Toph too had reacted just as quickly.

They sprinted from where they stood missing the sudden explosion behind him.

"It looks like we got another unwelcome visitor." Toph growled.

Aang furrowed his eyebrows, "I thought we finished him." His eyes eyed the large man standing atop a roof top not too far from they once stood.

"The **Combustion Man** is back." Aang snapped angrily.

* * *

Sokka, Haru, Teo, and Katara all stared at the Combustion Man. They were speechless.

"H-h-he-he's a-a-alive?" Sokka whispered.

Teo gulped, as Haru had a horrified look in his eyes.

Katara stuttered, she couldn't come up with any words. She was speechless.

Two of their main enemies appeared! At the same time out of all things!

The man removed his mask letting it fall below to where the crowd had gathered.  
The crowd gasps in response as the appearance of the once before banished prince stood before them.

Zuko frowned glancing from the Combustion Man and back at his younger sister sharply, he stood there waiting for her to strike first again. And unwelcome expression was on his face.

However on the other hand, Azula had an entertained smirk on her face, which was almost like an indirect warning that trouble is about to arise.

"My, my, my, Zuzu… I didn't think you would lure me out to the festival!" she glanced once at the Combustion Man, "And I didn't expect another hunter to arrive as well." She turned to the crowd, her voice changed into an order of a wicked ruthless leader, "The main event is about to begin." Blue flames erupted from her hands, "It's time! The moment we've all been waiting for…"

"**IT'S TIME FOR THE DUEL OF DESTINY!"**

* * *

**END OF CHAPTER 22**

**To be continued…**

**A/N:** Well, what did I tell you? Things are REALLY getting intense.

Sorry about the slow update! I'm back at school and that usually slows me down when it comes to writing time!

Anyways, as you can see; we had an unexpected Character REAPPEAR! (Mwuahahaha)  
COMBUSTION MAN IS BACK!

I had him in mind since I began writing this fanfic, so it's nothing new.

Anyways, after climbing that stupid writer's block (wall) I was inspired once again! (Thank god)

At the same time, another Fanfiction Idea came up for me! (But that'll have to wait)

Azula is back into ruthless mode. (I was sick of her being out of character, I'm pulling her back into her old self, but there's going to be a conflict that it will have consequences, otherwise it'll just be confusing.)

Ah, Katara, Katara, Katara, what is there to say? Nothing much really.

Ah, I'm starting the next chapter now!

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR REVIEWS! PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING! I LOVE IT WHEN YOU DO! YOU GUYS RULE!

Chapter 23  
Coming Soon!


	24. Chapter 23

**Previously on Escaping the Fire**

_**The gang headed off to the annual Ember Island Festival, however when they arrived, they had some unexpected guests.**_

"_H-h-he-he's a-a-alive?" – The Combustion Man is back in action._

_**Meanwhile Azula arrives with a new companion that the gang had never encountered before,**_

"_My, my, my, Zuzu… I didn't think you would lure me out to the festival!" she glanced once at the Combustion Man, "And I didn't expect another hunter." She turned to the crowd, her voice changed into an order of a wicked ruthless leader, "The main event is about to begin." Blue flames erupted from her hands, "It's time! The moment we've all been waiting for…"_

"_**IT'S TIME FOR THE DUEL OF DESTINY!"**_

* * *

**Chapter 23**

**  
**The crowd had already began murmuring among each other.  
"Isn't that Princess Azula?!"  
"What is she doing here? We never heard anything about her arrival!"  
"Never mind that, what is Prince Zuko doing here as well?!"  
"It looks like they are about to fight!"  
"What duel is she talking about!?"

The crowd has become quite restless.

The princess stared at her brother who stood there before her, at least 20 feet away from where she stood.  
Flames wavered dangerously from the torches and lanterns.  
People were starting to wonder if they should just flee.

The former prince observed his sister, keeping an eye out for any sudden movements that would indicate an attacking chance.

"So Azula," he began, "I'm surprised you're here. What's with your sudden appearance?" he said it as if he was talking to some regular person. Not a hint of annoyance or anger was found in the tone of his voice.

The princess decided to play along with her brother's so-called conversation, "Why, I decided to take a vacation, but then again I realized you were here…" she trailed off for a dramatic pause, "So I thought, why not introduce my _dearest _brother my newest companion?" her voice had obvious sarcasm.

"Another companion?" he asked, he remembered while back when he was hiding the in the bushes that there was a man trailing behind her like a guard.

"Of course." She said with a wide smirk on her face, she waved her hand, "Yuuko, you may come forward."

Suddenly out of the high slope where both siblings had jumped as a shortcut to the town landed smoothly like a feather on to the roof.

Zuko eyed Yuuko who stood in front of the princess, and glanced back at his sister waiting for more details.

The guardian was dressed in a black and blood rust red outfit with golden outlines. It had no armor whatsoever.

His eyes were piercing gold; his skin was not pale but then again not tanned either. It was about in between the two colors, but Zuko couldn't think of a word that could describe it.

His hair was shaggy like his own, except it reached a bit below his neck, and was cut into layers. Some of his hair was pulled up into a high ponytail which made him have a wild sense of style…or something like that.  
Zuko pushed the thought aside.

The robe the guardian wore had a Fire Nation emblem at the far right top corner of the robe that was tided with a golden sash. And to finish it off, he had a strangelooking golden charm like pendant with a ruby dragon engraved into it that hang from his sash.  
It was quite a stunning looking item. It must've cost a fortune.**  
**_'This guy must be from some noble family that I don't know of.'_

Azula waved her hand over to Yuuko, "This is Yuuko, _my guardian_."

Zuko's eyes widen, "What?" his mind was flipping through his memory, _'Guardian? What? Since when were humans able to talk within minds to one another?'_ He shivered unconsciously.

There was another explosion and people began screaming before anyone knew it.

Both siblings looked over to the Combustion Man who was shooting at Aang and Toph who were trying to dodge the attacks without using their bendings.  
And let them tell you, it wasn't as easy as it looked.

The ground began shaking suddenly as well. More screams filled the air.  
Both Azula and Zuko had to watch their balance from falling off the shop, on the other hand Yuuko had no problem at all. Instead though, he stared up at the mountain ahead of the village.

Smoke was coming out of the mountain's mouth.

* * *

Sokka groaned and shouted in an annoyed tone, "OH GREAT! FIRST AZULA ARRIVES! COMBUSTION MAN REAPPEARS, AND NOW SOME VOLCANO IS ABOUT TO ERUPT!"

People suddenly glanced at Sokka with wide eyes. There was an awkward silence for a minute before people began screaming as small flares of sparks of flames and burning ashes began falling from the sky and onto the village.

* * *

Katara had already made up her mind. With three problems happening all at once there is no way they could possibly hide their bendings during their situation.

Withdrawing sake from the barrels near her she began her pursuit at the combustion man who had finally noticed that she was chasing him and turned to attack her.

At the same time Aang and Toph already made up their minds as well and attacked the Combustion Man as well.

Sokka on the other hide along with Haru and Teo just played along with the screaming people.

* * *

Yuuko frowned staring at the volcano and glanced back at his highness, "Princess, I think it would be best to evacuate the villagers."

Azula sighed as if she couldn't care less about the people, "Fine, fine." She turned her attention to the people and shouted angrily, "STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND FACE ME IMMEDIATELY!"

It didn't take a second thought for everyone to quickly obey the order.

She sighed heavily once more, "Everyone prepare, or rather get yourselves evacuated, other wise you'll burn to the ground along with this village." She said it almost too enthusiastically. In response her brother shot her a disgusted look.

* * *

Toph and Aang, along with Katara had already lured the Combustion Man onto the beach.  
With the full moon out, Katara will be at the most powerful state.

It didn't take long for the waterbender to snatch the Combustion Man and continuously crashed heavy death waves over him.  
But unfortunately it wasn't working that well…  
Especially since ever time she stands in one spot it's a perfect direct hit chance for him to blow her up.

"Sugar-Queen, just make our lives so much easier and toss him far into the ocean!" Toph shouted. She sounded rather very annoyed.

"I was just thinking the same thing!" the waterbender shouted back as she got a hold of the Combustion Man and froze his head first before actually grabbing him and looked over to Aang who nodded as if he read her mind.

Tossing him into the air, she left the finishing blow for the young Avatar who had literally sent the finishing _blow_.

The three grinned at one another, but it quickly faded as they turned to glance at the volcano that was erupting.

Katara looked over to Aang and Toph, "We should get Sokka, Haru and Teo to help evacuate the people." She paused, "We'll head up to the top to get the lava to wander into another direction."

A flashback ran though the young Avatar's mind. He remembered the time how Roku explained how he was left to die by a volcano during a similar situation. The airbender swallowed nervously.

"What about Zuko?" Toph asked as they began to run back to the village. Katara thought over a few things before replying, "Let him do his things. We'll take care of the volcano, I am already certain that Sokka is trying to get people out of there."

* * *

Indeed the waterbender was correct.

"Everyone try to get as many people on to your boats as possible! We don't want anyone left behind!" the warrior shouted as he directed the people towards the harbor.  
In the mean time he was helping an elderly man struggling to make his way to harbor with all the panicked people almost trampling them.

Earlier he had told Haru to suck up his pride and help the innocent people, no children on to the boats with their families. Nobody is to be left behind, and nobody is to be separated.

Teo helped out by asking people who had boats and how many people could get on board, then instruct a number of people on board.

Sokka glanced back at the top of the volcano that was hidden inside the black smoke erupting from it.

"Sokka!"

He looked to his side where his sister and his other two friends followed behind her, he looked at her seriously, "What are you planning to do?"

"We're heading up the mountain, we're going to try and stop the lava from hitting the village." Toph replied beating Katara to the answer.

The elderly man's eyes widen, "Are you crazy!?" he looked back up at the volcano, "See that black smoke? It's highly toxic, if you breathe it in just once, you'll find yourselves already dead."

The gang's eyes all widen sharply, "Are you serious?!" They looked at one another, then at Aang who had coughed for their attention, "Don't worry, I have a plan." He looked at the old man and smiled, "Please evacuate safely. Don't worry too much about us." He laughed nervously, "We went through something like this before, we know how to deal with these problems."

The elderly man bowed his head and smiled, "Then I wish you the best of safety from Agni's blessings."

The three benders bowed and hurried off as Sokka and the elderly man made their way again to the harbor that was already packed.

'_Be careful guys…'_ the warrior thought to himself, he glanced at the full moon, _'Please watch over them for me Yue.'  
_

Azula and Zuko eyed one another, neither one of them shot an attack yet. Yuuko stood there observing the two siblings.

Suddenly there was a strong feeling of pressure to their pulses.  
All three of them looked up at the volcano with wide eyes.  
"It's him." Yuuko said sharply, "He arrived."

Zuko stared at Yuuko and then spotted the Avatar and the two girls running towards the mountain.  
"Are they crazy!?" he shouted angrily, he turned away from Azula and began to sprint after his new friends.

Azula frowned, "Shesh, he just left us…" she turned her gaze to Yuuko, "_He_ as just who are you talking about?" she looked back at her brother so that she wouldn't lose track of him.

"_He_, as—Hey!" Yuuko spotted the princess leaping off the roof to another already chasing her brother and the avatar. He growled as he hurried after her, "She ought to listen first before running!"

* * *

"Are you guys crazy!?"

The two girls and the Avatar looked over their shoulders spotting Zuko catching up to the them with an annoyed look on his face, it didn't take minute for him to be beside them, "You can't just go up at an erupting volcano! You'll get yourselves killed!"

'_Go!'_

'_Huh?'_ Zuko frowned, _'What the hell are you talking about? Do you really want all four of us dead!?'_

'_GO!'_ the voice shouted angrily.

The sudden pressure pounded with his heart.  
His eyes widen from the shock that ran through him like fire burning through his veins.

He broke into a faster sprint, before the other three knew it; he was already way ahead of them.

"MOVE IT!" the three suddenly dodged a burning blue fireball that flew past them missing Toph and Aang's heads by a dangerous inch.

The avatar growled, whipping a massage air ball he quickly began to air scooter after Zuko, getting way ahead of the girls who were dealing with Azula's attacks.

"Azula, don't bother wasting you're energy here, just pursuit your brother!" the guardian voice shouted angrily, "We have no time to waste!"

The attacks suddenly stopped. The two girls stopped to look behind them only to find no one there.  
"Where the hell did she go?" Katara exclaimed as she looked back at the mountain, she whipped out the fluid from multiples trees around them and began to soar herself into the air driving herself on the water rush.

Toph frowned, she didn't get to tell Katara what just happened, but decided to push it aside as she quickly punched the earth and began to quickly drive up the mountain with her road killing boulder she rode.

* * *

Aang had already caught up to Zuko who also had already somehow arrived to near the top; he was now covering his nose and mouth with his long sleeve.

The avatar was suddenly soaring into the air and was already whipping up massage winds to blow away the toxic fumes.

Simply it didn't take that long for master airbender to finish his simple task. He looked up back at Zuko with a frown, "Let's hurry."

The firebender nodded as the two of them hurried to the edge of the volcano where the lava was constantly bubbling dangerously.

Oddly enough it hasn't reached near the mouth of the volcano. Instead it was constantly spitting upwards.

Zuko took his stance and took quick action of the lava as Aang began earthbending the mountain to have holes or rather funnels for the lava to run through instead of hitting the town and into ocean to expand the island's territory.

The firebender stopped what he was doing and walked a bit closer to the edge of the volcano to inspect it once more.

'_Jump.'_

"JUMP?!" he shouted in an annoyed long tone of voice, Aang glanced over at him and looked at him confusingly, "Who are you talking to?"

'_Jump! Do not hesitate!'_

"ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME COMMIT SUICIDE OR SOMETHING!?" the prince shouted angrily, "Who's side are you on anyways!?"

'_Jump! It's an order!'_

Zuko shuddered as he peered into the bubbling lava, he looked around and glanced at Aang before walking away from the mouth and then took a deep breath before ordering, "Continue what you're doing."

"Huh?" the airbender glanced at him with a confused look on his face.

The firebender broke into a dash and dived into the volcano.

Aang's eyes widen and shouted, "ZUKO!?"

Katara and Toph just arrived to the top and looked at Aang who was staring at the mouth, Katara frowned, "Where is Zuko?"

They all hurried to the edge only to find a funnel of an entrance piercing down to the bottom of the volcano. Before they all knew it, the funnel closed shut overlapping with lava bubbling around dangerously; the actual activity was starting now.

"What the hell...?" Katara gasped as Toph punched Aang and shouted, "Get back to work! I heard what Zuko ordered you! Continue earthbending already!" she dodged a flare that spat out of the volcano, "Katara, do what you can do!" the earthbender waited for a response, "Katara? Are you listening to me?"

The waterbender stared at the sky with wide eyes gasping, Aang was speechless as well, "Since when did…"

Azula growled, "We missed him."

Yuuko frowned, "We should've came up here first thing. I knew I felt something as we arrived onto the island."

Azula snapped her head at him, "What the hell are you talking about!? If you felt something, you should've mentioned it!"

Katara frowned and withdrew water and launched it at the princess, which the princess simply dodged as Yuuko blasted a dangerous fireball at Katara who missed it narrowly.

"I'll take care of Azula…" she paused, "And this…guy…"

Another dangerous flame missed her feet as he jumped back missing the attack.

"I'll watch your backs, continue what you're doing!" she shouted as the volcano shook again.

Everyone struggled to keep their balance.

"Crap, the toxic gas is back!" Aang shouted as he covered his mouth and nose as he jumped into the air, missing another shot from Azula and began airbending again.

"Don't bother attacking the Avatar, just attack the waterbender, and let the Avatar keep the toxic gas out of reach." Yuuko ordered, "At this point he would only have two options, either let us all die from the gas, or let us all survive this mess."

Azula growled, "Very well." She launched another flame at Katara, "Let's try and drop her into the volcano." A cruel smirk curled upon her lips, "That'll make the situation so much more interesting."

* * *

The former prince fell down through the boiling hot funnel of magma that would spit near him every now and then.

It didn't take too long before he landed on to a hard solid ground after a painful landing.

"Arg." He groaned as he clutched to his chest where his previous wound that was just recently healed reacted from the fall.

Getting on to his feet, he once again stood up and looked at the surroundings and stared at the cavern he stood in.

Ruby shards decorated the walls and ceiling, black and dark dusty brown rocks that were literally deformed where all around him. He frowned studying the cavern he fell into.

His hand reached at his collar trying to get some air through his clothes. It was unbearably hot inside this...

He paused, _'Am I inside the volcano?'_ he wondered as he walked down the large gravel path.

He spotted an orange, red like glow from a corner far from his right where he stood. Curiousity got the better of him and his feet dragged him over to the colorful light.

The firebender's eyes widen as he reached around the corner.

A wooden bridge ahead of him reached across somewhere into the darkness.

He eyed the bridged carefully, debating with himself should cross the old wooden bridge or not.

The age of the bridge, with the creaky looking, or rather unstable wooden planks that you were supposed to walk on, was not promising. No not at all.

The rope that held the bridge from one end to another is miraculously still holding while dealing with this kind of heat. Most ropes would've already snapped by now.

Finally making up his mind, the prince took a deep breath before starting his way across the dangerous bridge.

To add the danger he already was facing in the mean time; below the bridge was a fast flowing river of lava that seems to rise every minute he wastes.

Half way across the bridge, he took another step but then the plank suddenly snapped into two.  
He barely had anytime to react as he managed save his foot from falling through along with the wooden plank that was quickly devoured by the lava.

Zuko observed the area again before creating a small fireball in his hands and took a step into the darkness.

* * *

The boats were already setting sail. Haru and Teo came hurrying back to Sokka who was helping one of the last of few boats getting passengers aboard. He turned his gaze to the two younger boys. "What is it?"

Haru and Teo looked at each other before Teo began in a quiet tone, "We still have 59 people to evacuate." He glanced at the few boats that were left. The boats would probably only have enough room for about 6 people, at most.

Sokka's eyes widen then looked back at the boats that were sailing to another island not too far for shelter in the mean time. His face had a pained expression, "Damn it." He glanced back at the people who were hugging their families and were already weeping.

Haru looked up at the volcano and back at Sokka, "But we don't have to worry too much do we? The town won't get destroyed if the volcano keeps acting like this."

Teo shook his head, "Unfortunately this is only a warning at the moment. The real activity inside the volcano is probably getting active. Before we know it, Aang, Toph and Katara will already have to retreat. It's going to get bad." He paused and glanced at the earthbender, "The Fire Nation is infamous for their dangerous volcanoes." He glanced back the people behind them, "But some people had told me that this volcano hasn't erupted since Avatar Roku disappeared."

Sokka furrowed his eyebrows, "So it hasn't erupted for 100 years." He looked up at the volcano as well, "Well that'd explain why people weren't expecting it." He looked back at Teo and Haru, "They probably thought it wasn't active anymore."

A heavy sigh escaped his lips, "Well this is certainly problematic." He glanced over at the people waiting to be evacuated and began pacing around in circles.  
It didn't take long till he came up with an idea.

"Hey! Does anyone know how to build rafts!?"

* * *

Zuko somehow made it across the dangerous bridge.  
During his walk across he had nearly fallen through over six times.  
He huffed from frustration and looked about once more.

The area where he standing was pitch black, except for one thing.  
And that one thing gave him the shivers.

Large golden eyes were staring at him.

He gulped and took the courage to say something after all this time of his silent journey through the volcano.

"Hello?"

"Oh goody, you found me."

Zuko jumped back as the room was suddenly enlightened by torches coming to life as the flames waved wildly.

His jaw dropped at the sight before him, "You were the one-," he quickly got over his shock and returned to the serious expression again, "You were the one who was calling me?"

"Indeed." There was a snicker, "It took you long enough though."

There before him was a large monster, no, not a monster, but rather a large creature, no, not that either, there that stood before him was a _glorious ruby red dragon_. Large wings were nearly folded like a bird; large sharp looking claws decorated his paws. Four fangs curved outside of his jaw. Its glorious fur was scarlet red, and hints of brighter streaks were found within. Its size was definitely much larger than Appa, much, much larger.

A smirk appeared on to the firebender's face, he crossed his arms, "So, I think it's about time that you tell me your name."

The dragon smirked back at him, "My name is Ryu, I am your sacred guardian. You are here to summon me and become my master that I have been waiting for decades."

"Decades?" Zuko asked with his eyes widen, "Just how old are you then!?"

The dragon smirked once more, "I am an immortal. I can only be slayed by the gods or my own brother." His smirk faded into a frown, "You have met my brother recently in his second form."

Zuko's eyes widen even more, "What are you talking about?"

Ryu sighed, "We guardians are born with unique abilities so that we will be suitable for our masters." He paused before continuing, "We are born only for our masters, that is why we are born with certain abilities." There was another pause, "Yuuko however, it my twin."

"Twin?"

"Yes, I am the eldest twin however, but usually it's impossible for guardians to born as twins." He glanced down at Zuko, "It's a very rare for dragons to give birth to twins." He eyed Zuko sharply, "And because we are twins, we can communicate to each other whether we want to." He stopped, "Dragons, no…Guardians usually can't do that."

The prince looked at Ryu seriously, "What's the difference between Guardians and Dragons?"

"That's a good question." Ryu answered, "Dragons unfortunately are not immortals, unlike Guardians…Even though we have the same appearance, we do not necessarily are the same creatures." He looked over at the rubies in the walls and back at Zuko, "Dragons cannot communicate with humans like we do or are born with unique gifts." He opened his wings and continued, "Only Dragon Tamers can understand a true dragon. But Guardians can only be found and understood by their masters and can live on until their quests have been given by the gods."

"What quests?" Zuko asked. There was a whole list of questions that he wanted to ask, he stared at the beast before him, his eyes never growing tired at the sight before him.

"Guardians are given quests in order to live on as a immortal creature." He paused, "All requests have a death penalty if failed." He sighed inwardly before continuing, "But, certain quests, or rather the quests that have been given to the guardians who protect the Royal Family are given certain life saving roots.

"That is by simply not killing their opponent, nor the opponent's master." He answered, "However, the foe may want to kill the master only, but the problem is that the guardian itself cannot survive if its master doesn't survive."

"Why is that?" the firebender asked. He was wondering if whether or not he should have a seat. After all, it feels like this conversation was going to last a while.

Ryu looked at him sharply, "Because nobody can find, or understand Guardians." He paused to think over an example, "For instance; The Guardian's master was murdered, and the guardian itself has gone into a state of insanity." He had a frown on his face, "Guardians that usually falls into insanity are forced to be killed because they cannot get over the shock that their master was killed." He sighed, "It happens more often though to female guardians that are addressed to serve male masters. Or a male guardian with a female master." His golden eyes flickered from Zuko to the rubies again, "DO you understand what I'm saying?"

Zuko nodded.

"Very well." His gaze quickly returned to the prince that stood before him, "Time is running out. We are to start the procedures of the summoning immediately."

The firebender didn't bother asking his question that he wanted to ask. He'll wait till later. First he needs to summon Ryu then return to the top of the volcano to help out the others.

Ryu coughed clearing his throat, "Alright, to begin the ceremony, I need you to get onto your knees and close your eyes. I need you to calm the mind and only focus on me."

Zuko quickly obeyed so and sat onto his knees, his hands resting on his lap. Taking deep breaths, he breathed out evenly as he calmed the mind like his uncle used to instruct him to do.  
It didn't take long before he heard Ryu's voice echoing his mind, "To swear your life for good deeds, to summon the ancient guardian that serves Agni, your responsibilities as a master, are you willing to accept it?"

"Yes."

"The power you will obtain will be used only when it's founded to be used appropriately, instructed by your guardian."

"Yes."

The firebender's heart seems to start pounding faster than before.  
Either from excitement or fear of the outcome, his heart would not calm down.  
The hot burning flare than through his veins again, a feeling of a bond formed between the Guardian and himself as one.

The feeling of strength reached his muscles; his confidence was boosted up another level. The desire of ending the war appeared and disappeared almost too quickly.  
Yes this was something that no one other than himself could experience…Or maybe Azula had experience something similar to this when she first summoned Yuuko. He didn't bother thinking that over.

Suddenly there was an explosion.

* * *

The explosion caught nearly everyone off guard.

Haru, Teo and Sokka, along with the people who were building rafts all turned their attention to the volcano that was now erupting rashly.

Lava was being thrown out like large buckets of water being tossed into the air.  
No, it was practically like waves that crashed all around the edges of the mouth of the volcano.  
The eruption was going to be a very violent and a harmful one as well.

Suddenly the people began murmuring all pointing up at the sky where the volcano was spiting into the air.

Sokka squinted his eyes as he frowned, "What the hell is that _thing_?"

* * *

The explosion made Katara lose her balance as result she fallen back onto her butt, just at the edge of the mouth where the lava was licking the edge of the opening. She yelped as she missed a spit. If she didn't see the spit coming she would've had a melting hand right now.

The volcano rumbled and shook again.

Azula and Yuuko turned their attention to the lava, "They are coming." Yuuko suddenly said.

Toph's eyes widen as she shouted, "Katara, Aang! Let's get out of here! We're going to be killed if we stay here any longer!" she was already making her way down the mountain in a hurry. Aang nodded as he reached for Katara's hand as she grabbed his as she was pulled onto her feet. She glanced back into the volcano and looked at the Avatar worriedly, "What about Zuko!?"

The airbender had a painful look on his face, "I can't imagine anyone surving after diving into an active volcano." He looked at her, "He could be long dead…"

"They're here!" Yuuko shouted.

Aang and Katara didn't have a chance to look at suddenly a large beast came soaring out of the mouth of the volcano. The lava was thrown out and straight at Aang and Katara who both luckily missed the hit and hurried their way down the mountain after Toph.

"Ah, Zuzu, I didn't think you would be able to summon your guardian." She said in a mocking tone, she rotated her neck in a circle cracking it every now and then. Her hands were crossed across her chest with a large smirk on her face, "I think it's about time we battle this out."

Zuko looked at her sharply, "What about introductions." He joked in a mocking tone, "I believe I haven't introduced my guardian to you as you have done for me." He waved his hand at Ryu whom he sat on, "This is Ryu, my guardian." He frowned, "As I can see, that is Yuuko…" he paused, "So Yuuko has the abilities to change between a human form and a guardian form?"

Azula nodded with a cocky smirk on her face, "Doesn't that sound so much more convenient?" she patted her guardian's head and looked at her brother with a cruel look on her face, "I think we should settle this here."

A bolt of lightning erupted from her fingertips.

Ryu dodged the attack and shot out a blast of flames from his large mouth just as fast as Yuuko reacted the same way.

There was an explosion from the collision of the same elements.

The two dragons soared up higher into the air as the volcano continued to erupt dangerously.

* * *

"Aren't those dragons!?" someone shouted suddenly.

Everyone turned their gaze to the old man that Sokka previously helped on to a boat; he stared at the sky where the two guardians fought.

"What are you talking about old man?" Haru asked, frowning as he did so.

Sokka glanced over to the elderly man and back at the fight, "I hate to admit it, but it's quite impressive."

"Impressive is not even the right word for it." Teo said as he watched the fight as well, his eyes shifted over to Sokka before asking, "Are we almost done with the rafts?"

Some men nodded as they continued to build the rafts that Sokka ordered to do.

"Why are we building rafts?" Haru asked, "Wouldn't the current just make them float away?"

Sokka shook his head, "We're going to tie them to the boats. The children will be on board will the adults sit on the rafts. Of course there'll be about three to four adults on board to supervise and sail the boats."

Teo grinned, "Sokka is a brilliant when it comes to ideas." He elbowed the earthbender, "You should learn a few things from him."

"AH!"

Haru and Teo looked at Sokka who suddenly turned to them sharply and exclaimed, "Somebody got to get Appa and Momo!"

"Aang is already heading to the cottage with Katara."

The three boys glanced at the earthbender who had her arms crossed, "So don't worry about that." She turned to face the mountain, "Right now, we should worry more about Zuko."

"Eh?" the boys looked at her with confused looks on their faces, "What are you talking about?"

"Zuko is riding one of those beasts."

"**Dragons**." Someone corrected from the group of people.

"Zuko is riding one of those dragons." She said again.

"He's riding a dragon!?" exclaimed Teo, "Since when!?"

"Since he came out flying from the volcano, well that's what Twinkletoes told me." She said quickly, as she frowned again, "Azula also has a dragon." She sighed heavily, "I think that's what Azula was talking about."

"Azula talking about what?" Haru asked, obviously he didn't hear Azula when she announced it.

"It's time for the _duel of Destiny_." She quoted while she imitating Azula's voice.

"Oh." The earthbender replied. He paused, and then suddenly asked, "Wait, what is the Duel of Destiny?"

"That…" she began, "I have no idea."

* * *

**To be Continued…  
End of Chapter 23**

**A/N:** Whoa, well, I am **VERY** satisfied how I managed to make this a long chapter. :D  
Well, now I can post up the cover that I made especially for this chapter. XD It looks awesome.

Well we finally meet Zuko's voice friend, Ryu, the eldest twin, Yuuko's brother.

We also learn a bit more about what a Guardian is, and how they are different from Dragons.  
KYA! I am SOOOO HAPPY THAT I FINALLY GOT TO REVEAL THE DRAGONS IN THIS CHAPTER!

I was quite desperate for a long time. But I wanted to keep it a secret as long as possible to add suspense and mystery.

Yuuko: I am sure no one was expecting Yuuko to be dragon after I mention that he was a man earlier into the chapter. If you did, well congrats.

Anyways, yes Yuuko is a HOT guy. You'll learn more about him in the later chapters after this fight.

NOTE: The outfit "style" appearance can be found on my Profile. :D You'll see that it looks AWESOME! (Just the Color Change that's All)

Oh yeah, if you think that this duel here… is the major epic battle, well, I'm making this story take place all the way to the end when the Comet Arrives and Aang has to battle the Fire Lord.

SO Yeah, this is EPIC part 1 or maybe an intro? Who knows? XD

Another thing, I remember how I was laughing how when I first saw 'The Firebending Masters' and the dragons made their appearance, I was like, "YES! I KNEW THEY WOULD SHOW DRAGONS EVENTUALLY!"

The dragons and guardians idea was all part of the plan when I first began writing the fanfiction and before I actually saw the Firebending Masters. :D  
I swear that is probably my most favorite episode out of all the episodes in Season 3 Book Three: Fire.

**I can't help it, I love dragons!**

And to top it off: I AM NOW AT 207 PAGES! YES! NEW RECORD!

Please Review Everyone. I'm currently at 120, and I would like to hear more responses. (It'd be even better if you could comment per chapter) Slaps selfish self

I really want to know how you guys think of this so far. Were you expecting this? Was it obvious? Was it a twist? Are you enjoying the Fanfiction so far?

As much as I would like to finish this, if a percentage of people won't finish reading this, I might as well not finish it…(though I probably will anyways, but it'll take some time since I am constantly get new ideas for other fanfictions I want to write)

Please Review!

No, no…Correction: I BEG OF YOU PLEASE REVIEW!! I MEAN SERIOUSLY, YOU ARE ALL KILLING ME! I BEG OF YOU TO COMMENT!

cries It feels like nobody likes what's happening…

Anyways I hoped you enjoyed this chapter!

**The next chapter will be updated as soon as I get 130 Reviews. (120 so far as I post this)**

* * *


	25. Chapter 24

**Previously on Escaping the Fire…**

_Zuko had finally summoned his guardian, Ryu…Mean while at the same time Azula keeps on talking about the Duel of Destiny.  
What is the Duel of Destiny?  
Is part of the Guardian's Quests as well?_

**Chapter 24**

The volcano continued to erupt violently.  
The rocks and ashes that were thrown about were either burning flames or just dangerous dust released from the volcano's mouth.

On the other hand, the rough battle between the two royal siblings and their guardians continued without any sign of stopping any time soon.

However, for the villagers who had not evacuated the island, were close to having no choice but to swim after the other boats and hang on to something that'll float, and cling for their lives, just like that.

Aang and Katara hurried up the steep slope towards the cottage.  
What they were doing was pure stupidity, but also selfishness of trying to save the Avatar's last friends alive from the Air Nomad.

A loud groan of a cry was heard from inside a shed not too far from the cottage itself, which was made for either the Dragon Lizards or for a few Rhinos.  
The shed itself made things very convenient as a shelter for Appa, since after all; the flying bison was a giant beast.

"Katara, you grab the main supplies that we need! I'll get Appa and Momo!" the airbender shouted as he zipped away from the cottage's entrance and off towards the large shed.

The waterbender didn't bother to answer with a reply; instead simply she hurried into the house and rushed to her room, where most of the important supplies remained.

* * *

"So this is your almighty guardian, Zuzu…" the princess sneered, with a disgusted look on her face, "He looks rather…Too old." She paused to recall something in the back of her mind before replying almost too soothingly, with a hint of venom lingering at the edge of her words, "He reminds me of, don't laugh now; Uncle." Her eyebrows rose as if it had interested her, but had slowly changed into a nasty, eerie, yet cold glare.

Her brother swore that he felt shivers run down his spin. His younger sister was a pro playing with words. Her expression would match with her tone and the sentence that she would say, almost _too_ _perfectly_…

"Why, isn't that a little harsh?"

The two siblings and Yuuko suddenly all glanced at Ryu who spoke out and startled them all as he had broken the intense atmosphere.

Ryu simply had waited patiently to startle all three of them, which was including his own master. He was certain that Azula, and Yuuko weren't expecting his voice to suddenly be tacked into their minds.

He eyed his younger twin with a twinkle of humor in his eyes.

"Yuuko isn't that much younger than me," he stopped as he dodged another vomit fit from the volcano, missing him by several meters.  
He had just made it clear, with that simple, sudden example to his foes to not underestimate him by his appearance.

There was a snicker from the red beast, "Maybe by a few seconds or a minute." There was a smirk that had quickly grown upon his lips, "So if you would consider me old, then my handsome brother would be just as old, by a second or a minute that is." His smirk grew even wider, "Not mention, that we _are_ twins."

Azula's calm and emotionless face had vanished, instead; her face expressed annoyance and irritation. She huffed and tossed her bangs out of her face, the hot, burning breath from the volcano made the air hot and dry. The beads of sweat that were on her forehead had already been evaporated from the volcano's heat.

The volcano itself was making the scene between the two siblings and the astonishing Ancient Guardian Dragons.

The thick, puffy cloud of smoke began to arise around them.  
The smell was toxic gas from the cloud brought immediate attention to the twin dragons.

Ryu's wide smirk had fallen into a frown, "The duel of Destiny…" he said it almost mockingly, "Will have to wait till another day." He eyed his younger twin, "Farewell my dear brother." their eyes met directly, as if they were trying to read each other's mind, "The next time we meet, _may be our last_." After he broke the eye contact with his brother, he said nothing more, but had already immediately launched himself higher into the air, and disappeared among the clouds that had hovered over them in a high range.

Yuuko could not argue with the solid fact that he elder brother had just stated to him. Eying the violent volcano once more, he too launched himself up high into the sky, and began to fly away from Ember Island.

Azula was furious in response, "Yuuko! Where the hell are you going!? I never ordered you to leave the island! Chase them! CHASE THEM! WE MUST HUNT THEM DOWN UNTIL WE SPILL THEIR BLOOD!" there was a wild cry of frustration, "You damn useless Dragon! Do as you're told! I'm your master! You must follow my orders-hey! Why are you not listening to me!? What are you now-deaf?" she scowled angrily, "You are absolutely pathetic."

Yuuko did not reply. Instead he sighed inwardly as he tried and deal with the princess who had obviously lost her mind, and is now a blooding shedding manic, who is so desperate to kill her brother.

A large fluffy white dot in the distance caught his attention. His eyes widen, and then his facial expression turned into a frown, '_The Avatar…'_ he peeked a glance towards his master, praying that she wouldn't notice him looking at her _or_ spotting the Avatar. He growled deeply as the voice of his brother echoed back to him, _'The next time we meet, __**may be our last**__.'_

His claws clenched from the thought, _'I fear having to encounter you again.'_

* * *

Katara and Aang, along with Momo and Appa, had successfully escaped the danger zone where the previous, gorgeous Royal Cottage, that now burning to the ground almost too quickly.

In the mean time of their escape; they managed to pick up the others and get everyone off the island, in just about time.

Unfortunately, while Toph had been running back down the burning mountain, she had run into a few small fires that had already grown into disastrous, chaotic monsters; she had received a few burns in result. Luckily, it was not severe.

Haru and Sokka decided to call a truce between each other for now until they find out what the next plan will be.

However, on the other hand; Teo was the only one who had noticed Zuko's absence, and was quite concerned after witnessing a large eruption and two large dragons.

The waterbender sighed as she healed the last burn that was on Toph's arm, and turned to look over at the others, she couldn't help but noticed the worried look on the young inventor's face, "Hey, Teo; what's wrong?"

The handicap teenager glanced over at her, his eyes shifted away and into the smoky sky, "I was wondering what happened to Zuko-,"

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

Everyone jumped as they all turned to Sokka who just was just looking over Appa's saddle, had jumped to the opposite side, nearly knocking Haru off as result.

A large red beast rose beside Appa, who had groaned a welcoming, which made Aang just stare at his bison strangely, then shot a look at Momo who a chirping almost too…much.

"So for startling you guys."

Everyone turned to the beast that was now evenly beside Appa, though its long body was still at least twice the length of Appa's.

The beast's head was definitely half the size of Appa's body.

Everyone, except Toph had a chill down their spine.

"Guys?"

Everyone glanced at Zuko who was sitting on the large beast clutching to the warm fur, "Are you guys okay?"

Sokka's jaw dropped as he had swung his arm up and pointed directly at the creature, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING!?" he shouted almost too exasperatedly.

"A Dragon." Katara said in an obvious, bored manner. She was expecting Sokka to at least know what that beast was to begin with since after all, he _is_ a genius, _right_?

Zuko shook his head, "He is not a dragon. However he is somewhat related to them by blood and the shape of his figure." The former prince stopped and somewhat had a silly grin on his face, "Everyone, this is Ryu." He paused, "My guardian."

"Guardian?" everyone turned to Haru, "Is that all part of the Royal Blood or something?" the earthbender had a sarcastic tone to his voice. He unfolded his arms and hit his palm with his left balled up fist, as if he just gotten an idea, "Oh, now everything are starting to fall into place!" he turned to Katara, expecting her out of all people to support his theory, "Now since Zuko got this '_guardian_', they will have to travel frequently back and forth to places for their little missions or whatever might come up!"

Everyone glare at Haru with annoyed expressions on their faces, Katara out of all people was starting to twitch and ball her fists to try and hold back her fury, "So wouldn't make so much sense that they are actually plotting against us?"

"His theory makes no sense at all." Toph whispered into Teo's ear, who nodded as a reply.

Ryu arched an eyebrow and glanced at the earthbender with the corner of his eyes,_ 'Who is this stupid kid in your group?'_

"That is Haru…An earthbender from a village that was previously taken over by the Fire Nation." The firebender answered quietly as Haru continued his ridiculous speech.

'_Was?'_ Ryu looked away from the earthbender and glanced at Appa, and Momo who happened to be waving at him, his lips curled slightly.

"They got it back afterwards." Zuko answered, he looked back at his guardian before adding, "They must have formed a rebellion."

"Hey Sparky, who are ya talking to?" Toph shouted almost too loudly, obvious trying to cut off Haru's _theory_ speech, "According to my ears, you're talking to your guardian buddy…" she trailed off and began tapping her chin with her right second finger, "Nickname…nickname…" she muttered to herself as Zuko replied, "I'm talking to-,"

"Spirit!" she said suddenly, which made everyone including Ryu look at her with confusion on their faces, "What?"

"No…hm…this one is difficult…" she continued to ponder with herself which quickly made the gang lose interest in whatever she was talking about.

Aang glanced at Ryu and Zuko and grinned widely, "Well, now Appa doesn't have to carry that many people anymore." He laughed as Zuko cut in, "Though, I doubt Ryu is the type to carry traveling supplies." He looked into the dark sky and glanced back at Aang, "We need to find a place to rest."

The two Water Tribe siblings shifted their gaze to the Avatar and the former prince before exchanging looking between one another. Sokka was first to cut into the conversation, "It's difficult to look at a map without light." His eyes studied the dark clouds that had began to form above them, a worried frown appeared on his face as he furrowed his eyebrows, "And it happens to look like there's a storm coming."

Haru looked at the Water Tribe warrior sharply, "You mean like a major battle, or with the weather?"

Ryu frowned, _'It's both actually_.'

Zuko glanced at his guardian with wide eyes, "What do you mean by that?"

"Mean by what?" Katara glanced at him with a frown, "Care to share your little secret conversation between the two of you?" she eyed Ryu briefly before glancing back at Zuko who sighed, "He says that both will happen."

"_Both_?" Haru looked at Ryu suddenly, forgetting about his theory he then suddenly asks, "How does he know that?"

Zuko shrugged, "To be dead honest, I have no clue."

Aang sighed heavily before turning to face the gang on Appa's saddle, "Does anyone know where we are _now_ though?"

Ryu eyed Appa, who was eyeing him back, before answering to Zuko, _'I know the world by heart.' _He glanced back at the bison who had groaned in response,_ 'It seems that the closest place to land and go for shelter is the Abandoned Tomb."_

"Abandoned Tomb?" Zuko looked at Ryu, "What's that?"

"A forbidden place." Teo said in a shallow cold tone, causing everyone to look at him in surprise. He shifted his eyes away from the group for a second before explaining, "It's an ancient place in the past where benders or warriors would take a test." He stopped, "I don't know much about it though, but however; I had read that most people who had taken the test, never came out…" he trailed off for second, "…which in most cases would be considered dead." He eyed everyone before adding, "In the records…no one came out alive."

'_That's a fact by the way.'_ Ryu said seriously, causing Zuko to shift his body suddenly leaning over to look at Ryu, "Are you serious!?"

'_I don't joke about these kinds of things.'_ He said sharply.

Everyone looked at each other with worried looks on their faces, however Sokka who was the only one frowning was debating whether or not they go to the island, he glanced at Ryu, "Is the island itself, a tomb?"

'_Literally.'_ The guardian answered simply as Zuko repeated what Ryu said and studied the expression Sokka had on his face.

The Water Tribe warrior folded his arms and leaned back against the saddle and sighed heavily, eyeing the sky with a frown, "It's better to take precautions…" he trailed off, "However; precautions also can be included with risks." He eyed everyone to make sure they understood what he was saying then he stood up, "We _will_ go to the Abandoned Island, however; we must spend the minimum amount of time there." He pointed to the waterbender and the airbender, "Katara, Aang. You will be first to take the lookout shift." He eyed Aang seriously, "I am depending on your earthbending Toph taught you."

"_Wait, and listen_…" The blind bandit echoed in a whispered tone of voice with an amused grin on her face, "_Feel your surroundings_…"

Aang glared at her, "Toph! Quit it! You're creeping my out already!" he shuddered consciously as Katara nodded as an agreement.

The warrior then pointed to Zuko and Toph, "You guys will take the next shift." He pointed to himself and his sister suddenly, "Katara and I will take the third." He then pointed once more at Toph and Aang, "You two will take the last shift."

"Wait! Wait a minute!" everyone turned to Haru who had his two arms up as if he was surrendering, "Hang on a second," he glared at Sokka, "How come I don't have a shift?"

Sokka frowned, "We can't rely on someone who will only have his eyes on Zuko."

"_Or who is too weak_." Toph echoed eerily again like she had done to Aang but to Haru this time, who had shoved her away, "Shut up! Look I am strong enough but if-,"

"Haru." He glanced at Katara who was looking at him seriously, "This Island is not worth taking a risk. We need to keep up our guard, and not set up a weak team." She pointed to Sokka with her thumb just as Haru was about to protest she added, "However, the reason why Sokka and I are paired up as a team; even though he is not a bender, he's strong enough to fend off one." She paused, then quickly added, "Not to mention he has a loud enough scream to wake everyone up." The group except for Haru stifled into giggles.

Sokka nodded, "That's right-HEY!"

Ryu closed his eyes, then opened them again as there was a rough, loud sound of thunder within their distance. He looked at the gang then at Zuko, _'Rather than the weather we have to worry about…'_ he wanted to sigh but somewhat couldn't. He knew this was not a time to be laidback. Especially, when he knew something that everyone else, including his brother did not know. However, there was _one _person that he could tell…that is, if he can find that person with so little time left.

'Something wrong?'

Ryu lips curled at the sight of his prince's worried face, _'Nah, it's nothing.'_ He glanced back forward and shifted his eyes to Appa, whom also was looking back at him. The two beast somewhat nodded without any physical action and had suddenly both darted forward in high speed, surprising everyone who were riding them.

"APPA!? WHAT-, WHERE ARE YOU GOING!?" the young air monk yelled as he climbed on to the bison's head trying to get the hold of the reins.

"Let him Aang."

Everyone, except Zuko who was too busy trying to hang on to Ryu's fur, all turned to the waterbender who had a serious look on her face, "Appa and Ryu must've spoke to one another. Otherwise, there would be no way Appa would maintain the same amount of speed as Ryu." She paused, "I believe they are bringing us straight to the island…" a roar of thunder cut her off, as sheet lightning brewed upon the black clouds not too far above them.

Rain began to pour down heavily. The group was too busy hanging on to Appa's saddle to prevent themselves from flying off, to get their raincloaks.

It was in a matter of time before the eye of the storm would appear before them.

And if they were lucky, they would be at the island by then.

* * *

**End of Chapter 24**

**A/N:** Whoa, not so long as I planned it to be, but since I have been extremely busy lately. (I'm dead serious guys…T_T it's brutal) I have no time to do creative writing unless I absolutely have no homework. (This chapter was too short…**Mental Note: MAKE NEXT CHAPTER LONGER!!!**)

The week days are busy, busy, busy. Well, I have written a brief brainstorm sheet of what to happen next during some of my classes that I get pretty bored in. So I pretty much have a layout of what to happen next.

Thank you for your patience everyone. I KNOW I have been KILLING you from the wait, especially since there are only 129 right now (reviews). I read that last one and laughed saying to myself, "I got to add the next chapter-I can't bare to make them wait any longer."

*Laughs* Anyways yes, because I am VERY busy, it will take some time to update the next chapter (which I'm working on already.) The next goal will be 135 Reviews (that way I don't kill you guys)

Reviews, Reviews, Reviews…

Ever wonder why reviews are so important to me?  
Well, rather why I am pretty obsessed with them?

Well to answer why:

I love it when people comment on my stories/fanfictions because…  
I want to know my strengths and weaknesses.  
(I'm pretty aware that my grammar isn't great)

I like to know what people think.  
I like to be encouraged (Doesn't that sound childish? :P)  
I enjoy knowing the fact that people enjoy the story and want me to write more.  
I dream to be an Author, but I want to learn just how much I can do. You need a crazy mind, okay…not crazy, but a mind that is OUTSIDE of the box, not inside (inside won't get you anywhere)

Anyways, that's pretty much it for now; I've killed a page for the Author's Note…lol. (Sweatdrop)

Anyhow please **REVIEW!  
**Oh and if you are interested, check out my blog! It had become a daily journal for me. Though there isn't much….Maybe some things will entertain you, who knows…I don't exactly have anything else to entertain myself with so, I enjoy writing my "blog"/livejournal, even though nobody reads it. Oh well, it exists to tell me more about my last year of high school and will bring up some interesting memories. :P  
Well, other than that, it's easier to type than to write for me (it's faster in my case) Zutarian4eva


	26. Important Notice MUST READ

**IMPORTANT NOTICE:**

Okay, well um; thank you all who subscribed and reads Escaping the Fire it means alot to me, um wow, this is alot harder than I thought.

Unfortunately I'm not sure whether I'll continue this story, and I would like to know just how many of you are really, _really_ **_really_** looking forward for the next chapters.

I apologize for having them delayed half a year (so far), due to an emotional crisis during school, which was my Depression that lasted about 3 - 4 months.  
Because of that, I had **no** inspiration, **no **motivation,** no** will to write or do anything. I was broken, shattered, wounded from the stress and devastation.

It's really sad how my motivation to continue Creative Writing dropped significantly. I'm not sure whether this is an after effect from the Depression, but to insure you I have been doing some sort of creative writing, but just not stories. Actually, I kind of started writing poems. Surprisingly I write some emotional poems subconsciously without even knowing it. I think they are mostly Allegory, but you know if you want to check them out, go ahead to my Journal, under tags of: **"Playing with Words"**

Well that is it for now. If you want me to continue and **COMPLETE **Escaping the Fire, Please vote (if you can) in the Poll at my Profile.

I apologize for getting your hopes up about this sudden notice. -_- I'm truely, really sorry.


	27. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25  
The Ancient Tomb Part 1**

The storm came just as Ryu had suspected. The clouds grew from thin and small, to thick and large. The pure snow like white faded into a shadowed black, indicating heavy rain was about to fall.

The gang flew midair, consciously eyeing the dangerous clouds. Appa groaned as the wind picked up, making their ride very unpleasant. The wind howled loudly as the thunder roared above them as the first bolt of lightning emerged from the ominous clouds.

On the other side, were Ryu and Zuko; the former prince clung to the guardian's thick fur for like his life depended on it. The rain poured down on them heavily. Small balls of hail, the size of marbles dropped recklessly onto their heads. Sokka was targeted by the universe as usual, along with Haru, who was having just about the same problem.

As for the others, it wasn't as brutal as how the two teenage boys were suffering. Teo made a helmet specifically for this kind of weather and just grinned to himself, satisfied that he had successfully created a fine new product. And the two waterbenders, both Katara and Aang waterbended their usual makeshift 'umbrellas'.

As for Toph….  
She couldn't care less.  
She just sat there as if none of this was happening.

"How could you just sit-, _ow_ there and not-, _ow _complain-, _OW_!" Sokka exclaimed loudly, praying that his voice reached Toph's ears due to the deafening screams of the thunder and crackling lightning.

"What?" her blank face grew a smile, "It's quite charming if you ask me." She shouted back, her noisy voice overpowered the wind effortlessly. As result, everyone heard her quite clearly and shot her a strange look.

Aang, who was hanging on to Appa's reins tightly suddenly yelped watching Ryu take the lead as Appa followed quickly in order not to lose them.

Before they knew it, they found themselves screaming their heads off in horror, as the dove directly into the hell gates.  
Or so that's what Sokka called it.

…**.Minutes before that happened….**

"Are you freaking kidding with me?" the firebender burst out angrily, "There is no way we'd come out alive!"

The guardian inhaled deeply before replying, _'Trust me on this.'_

Zuko winced, clenching his teeth to suppress his complaints of the hail dropping onto his head, before scoffing, "Do you really expect me to trust you?"

Ryu craned his neck to look over his shoulder and eye Zuko seriously, '_Yes, I expect you to trust me. I am you're guardian after all_.' There was a pause, '_I have already discussed it with the bison._'

The former prince scowled angrily and whacked the dragon's neck in annoyance, "Don't you dare start have any more secret conversations then! You're plan is just reckless! I, no _we_, the world cannot afford losing the Avatar again!"

The creature snickered, '_Well you certainly won't have a problem finding him since you have hunted him down and found him when many of your ancestors have given up.' _His master whacked him again, "Don't joke about that!"

Zuko quickly caught his grip before he could be blown off by the wind, and then added icily, "Whatever you do, _don't _do it."

Ryu's lips crawled up into a smirk, _'Ah, I knew you would say that.' _The prince looked up sharply in surprise, but had quickly replaced it with a frown, "Just what are you-,"

'_Oi! BEASTY!'_ Zuko looked over to the side, noticing how Appa turned his head to face Ryu who now had a wicked grin upon his lips, _'It's time to take the rough ride!'_

The bison groaned in annoyance, but nodded ever so slightly as Ryu quickly suggested, _'You better hang on tight your highness.'_

Zuko growled furiously, _'I knew it.'_ before he muttered, "You are _so_ dead after this."

'_That is, if we make it out alive.'_ Ryu replied excitedly, before entering a death cloud, causing Zuko to now grind his teeth to restrain himself from scolding his guardian anymore, knowing that the dragon was doing this all on purpose just to annoy him.  
Just like his uncle would.

Zuko stopped at the thought of his uncle. His eyes sadden at the image of the jolly old man, who was always at his side…And was addicted to tea.

Before he knew it, he was yanked out of his daze and felt the wind lashed his chest, while in the mean time, Ryu was laughing his head off.

The ride was unbearable.  
No, it was _hell_. A reality nightmare of some sort. But this, this was _way_ too much for Sokka to handle; who was doing the pleasure of screaming his lungs out while Toph was laughing hysterically, Katara, Teo and Haru; gripping to the saddle, fearing that because of the speed they were going at, they could be thrown off to god knows where and into the vicious ocean below. Even so, before they even reach the ocean, there'd be a risk of being struck by a bolt of lightning.

Ryuji was going to get scolded big time.

* * *

As soon as they emerged from a large dark, black cloud; the gang was thoroughly soaked to their bones. The bison groaned and growled at the sacred beast, baring his large teeth as he did so, whiel Ryuji ignored him and continued laughing and swirling around in the sky, forcing his master to cling to his fur.

Before anyone could scold Ryu, Appa soared downwards towards the oddly shaped island. The one and only they were hunting for.

As soon as they landed onto the beach. The Bison dropped onto his stomach and rolled over onto his back and instantly fell asleep. Unfortunately, since the poor thing was so tired, he had forgotten about the group on his saddle, who instantly jumped off in order to avoid being squished.

Sokka landed painfully with a face plant into the sand. With that, it had instantly pulled the trigger, and now the Water Warrior had spat the sand out, he pointed at the dragon angrily and hollered, "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING YOU FREAKING FREAKING FREAKING FREAKING FREAKING…." He waved his hand trying to come up with a word, "FREAKING, FREAKING, MONSTER!"

Ryu looked over at the Water Tribe Warrior, with an eyebrow arched and turned away, with the wicked smirk on his face. Zuko, on the other hand caught it and slapped the dragon's head in annoyance, "What the hell were you thinking?"

Everyone stared at Zuko, caught off guard how calm he was scolding his guardian, "You could have had us killed."

'_Did you really think I'd put all of you people in a middle of a storm that had a possibility of killing you?'_ Ryu stared at his master, his playful smirk never leaving his face.

"Yeah actually, I think you would." The ex prince crossed his arm, "Because you just did." He then rolled his eyes while adding, "But then again, we didn't die, however you could've warned us to brace ourselves."

'I warned you.' He said, now smiling like an innocent child. Zuko flinched from the sudden response and turned his head the other way. He cleared his throat before continuing, "Anyhow, now that we're on the island, I think you should explain to us-," he caught the strange looks from the others and quickly corrected himself, ",to me _why _the island is so dangerous." He eyed Teo in particular who was eyeing his surroundings ever since he had jumped off Appa's saddle.

Before he had the chance to ask Teo a question, Haru poked the kid on the shoulder, causing him to jump in his wheelchair, startled. The young inventor glared at the earthbender who spoke first, "What's with you? You're eyeing the beach and the forest as if zombies are about to come out of the ground or something."

Teo huffed and turned away, adjusting his wheelchair's wheels, "Didn't I explain why already?" he looked back at the others, "This is the Abandoned Tomb, where powerful benders get themselves killed."

'_Ah yes, that reminds me of something which I forget._' Ryu said suddenly, causing Zuko to glare at him with a look that could kill, "Glorious, that's _really_ assuring."

"What is assuring?" asked Aang, not taking note of Zuko's sarcasm. The firebender looked at the Avatar and took a deep breath and exhaled loudly, "He said there was something, which he forgot, that is probably not important." He glared at the guardian as he said this. The airbender laughed, turning to the others, "Well shall we-," the sound of the child' stomach growling cut him off, blushing with a cheesy smile, ", eat?"

Katara couldn't help but giggle and nodded, "We'll have leek soup this evening."

Everyone except for Sokka groaned quietly in disgust, but didn't argue out loud. After all, ever since that last battle, and the volcano interruption, they lost some of their supplies due to the little time they had to gather new, non-water tribe ingredients.

As it happens, Leek was something Katara gotten earlier that week for their travels and had packed it in Appa's saddle not too long after.

Now Aang and the others wished it was burned away in the lava.  
But then again, what would be their dinner now if that were the case?

* * *

Dinner was quiet, the gang refused to make a camp in the forest, however had to keep an eye on the tides since they were on the beach. Toph on the other hand was _not happy_ with the sand issue, but was thrilled when Aang returned after supper, from searching for a better location, that there was a _gravel _beach not too far away from where they were now.

Soon enough, the group packed up again and arrived to the gravel beach where Toph express her love for rocks by making a stone angel, before flattening a small area into a smooth surface so that they can sleep on something flat rather than bumpy. It was dark by the time they completed putting up their tents to shield them from the sudden down pour during the progress.

Once more, no one spoke much. It was probably because they were thinking too much about the possibilities of the dangers on the island. However Toph just about had it with the awakward silence and shouted out of blue, "I THINK I GOT A NICKNAME FOR YOUR GUARDIAN ZUZU!"

Every must've of jumped out of their deep thoughts since every was in a battle stance only to realize there was nothing to worry about (yet). They all glared at the Blind Bandit who was laughing once again, and was very much amused by their reactions.

"A nickname for Ryu?" Zuko looked outside of the tent, eyeing the dragon who was bathing in the sea or something, before looking back with great interest, "Do share."

A wide smirk appeared on Toph's face, and folded her hands and resting her chin on her knuckles, "Ah, of course I'd love to share." She was in the spotlight now. Withdrawing her right hand from its pose, leaving the left as it is, she waved it as if she was holding tray, "Sushi."

The group blinked before leaning forwarded with confusion written all over their faces, "Eh~?"

"Sushi" She said in syllables, "Su-shi" she reunited her right hand back with her left and looked at them seriously, "Sushi." She then stood up and walked over to the entrance and shouted, "HEYSUSHI!"

Ryu flinched, as a nerve twitched on his head, 'Don't tell me…'

"FROM NOW ON: THAT'LL BE YOUR NICKNAME! I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!" she shouted enthusiastically, watching his face somewhat twitch before ducking his head underway where then steam came bursting to the surface.  
The others all looked at her surprised and looked back to the thick steam that soon faded. When they all looked back at her, she had a wide wicked smirk on her face, "I knew he'd hate that."

'_Why does every generation have a person who gives me the same nickname I hate the most!_'

Zuko chuckled at the dragon's thought, nodding to Toph, "Yep. He hates it that much."

The group burst into laugher that lasted for a good few minutes before Sokka stood up and clapped his hands for their attention, "Alright, lets get the shift started." He looked at his sister and Aang, "Remember to keep at high alert, don't let anything fool you."

The two friends nodded and went outside into the rain, where no moonlight could reach the beach due to the clouds.

It was going to be one hell of an eerie night.

* * *

It wasn't that he was too scared to sleep.  
And it wasn't because he had so much energy.  
It was all because of Ryu's complaining, even when he's asleep.  
As result, Zuko had to put up hearing about his past of why and who, and how many generations Ryu has been through, only to be receiving the same nickname.

He must've been awake since he fallen partly asleep then only to be awakened.  
So, in other words: He had not received any decent sleep yet, not even a nap.  
And what's worse: It was his turn for the night shift.

Toph was surprised to see him already outside when she had just woken up from her beauty sleep, but didn't bother asking why he was dragging his feet. Katara and Aang returned into their tents and the shift for the Firebender and the Earthbender began.

Each shifts lasted about 3 hours, which is a long time and extremely exhausting if you didn't get a wink of sleep.

Zuko was having a hard time trying to stay focused.  
And Toph was fully aware of how out of it he was.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" she asked quietly, not wanting to wake the others, her head turned to where she sensed him standing. He didn't reply right away, but eventually he answered, "Ryu wouldn't shut up."

"Ryu? It's because of sharing his thoughts the reason why you aren't getting enough sleep?" she stifled a laugh, "How the heck does that work?"

He looked at her tiredly, "Guardians and their masters have a special connection, and that happens to be mind communication. We can hear and talk to each other in our heads. In this case, I'm hearing Ryu's complaints and whines about his nightmare." He didn't want to glare at Toph, but ended up doing so anyways, since in the back of his head knew; it was partly her fault for getting the guardian into behaving this way.

The glare had no meaning whatsoever since Toph couldn't see it in the first place. But judging by his tone of voice, she figured that he was glaring at her. She turned away and shrugged, "Well I apologize for that." She kicked a stone lightly, as if to entertain herself, "Unfortunately I'm not psychic."

"Trust me, you don't want to be." The firebender muttered as he forced himself not to yawn.

"What? You're saying you're psychic?" she asked with a grin on her face.

He sighed, "Well, not necessarily, but close enough to how people describe these kinds of things."

"Hey Zuko." The sound of a certain sleepy warrior came from behind them. Neither of the two made a move to attack since Toph didn't react, and Zuko knew if she didn't react, there's nothing to worry about.  
And what kind of ambush would it be if someone called his name in a sleepy voice?

Toph studied Sokka before asking, "Are you here to switch with Zuko?"

"Bulls eyes." Sokka said as he yawned, and patted Zuko's shoulder, "Dude, get some sleep."

"But it hasn't even been 10 minutes into the shift!" the firebender protested. Sokka shook his head, "Okay listen. I had a weird instinct that someone was tired, so I woke up and-, look at you! You're half dead man!"

Zuko frowned, "I do not look half dead, nor feel that way."

Sokka ignored him, "Look just get some sleep, we need you to be able to fight."

"Guys."

"Not know Toph."

"No Sokka seriously." The earthbender hissed, as she took form of her defensive stance, "There's somebody coming."

"Coming? Do you mean like here, or on your way?" he whispered back, she shook her head, "Approaching. I just felt a real light vibration. It's very similar to Aang's when he jumps. They are fast, and they have a very light touch when they touch the ground."

"I'll wake up the others then." Suggested Zuko, only by the time he pivoted Aang was already awake and outside of his tent. A frown was on his face, "This might be tough."

"What will be tough?" Katara followed out from her tent rubbing her eyes, but then realized how everyone was very stiff. She immediately knew what was going on.

"An ambush?" she asked in a whispered tone.

"I would call it more of an attempt." Toph replied quietly, "You can't really call it an ambush when we're aware of it."

Katara nodded and waked up the other two sleeping boys, quietly telling them to get ready for a fight.

However…  
Nobody appeared even after several hours.  
And now the sun is rising.  
The group is tired; none of them seem to get a decent sleep due to the sudden alert.

When the sky turned from dark to bright, the group all looked at each other, not certain if they should let their guard down.

Haru just about had it, plopped onto the ground in annoyance, "It was probably an animal." He glared at Toph, "So much for an enemy warning."

As if right on the cue: a dozen masked figures jump into the scene, fire, earth, water all coming at them all at once; giving the gang very little time to react, and giving them no time to warn each other what was behind their backs. The only choice they had was to somehow run and escape, or be captured by the unknown opponents.

"I can't believe I'm stuck with you two out of all people!"

"Shut up Pretty Face, or else you'll have to deal with my iron fist."

"What iron fist?"

"Duh, metal bending."

"With what metal, your pathetic hand?"

There was a sneer, "Oh? Would you like to see how _pathetic_ my fists are? I'll have the pleasure of showing you since they are _terribly weak_."

"WILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP!"

"Shrrp!"

The two earthbenders glanced at the Water Tribe warrior and the flying lemur on his shoulder. Sokka glared at them annoyance, "This is _not_ the time to be arguing." He waved his hand, gesturing their surroundings, "We need to find the others and fast. And secondly, we don't even know where we are."

"We're in the woods." Haru stated bluntly as he crossed his arms, "How much more obvious could it get?"

Toph shook her head, as she lowered onto her knees and placed her hand on the ground, "We're not in a forest."

The earthbender stared at her stupidly, "Huh~?"

Sokka looked up at the canopy above them, and then pivoted to study a tree behind him. Slowly he traced his hand along the smooth moss on its bark, feeling the texture before coming to a conclusion; which Toph beat him to.

"We're not in a forest, but actually a cave of some sort." She stood up brushing her knees off and pointed to the tree Sokka just inspected, "That is nothing more than a pillar covered in moss." She glanced at Haru, "Feel it for your own self satisfaction." She then turned to Sokka, "I'm going to take a wild guess that this is exactly what _Sushi_ and Teo were concerned about."

The warrior nodded before he added, "This island, is most definitely a tomb." He withdrew his sword from its sheath, "A tomb that has the potential of killing us all if we don't take precautions."

Haru shivered from Sokka's serious tone of voice. He nervously looked around the 'cave' they were in before asking, "So how do we get out of here?"

* * *

They had no idea where they were fleeing to, but Aang remembered that as soon as he felt the enemy's vibration from behind; Teo was the first person he jumped to before taking off into the sky and dropping in the middle of a field.  
So much for a great cover.

The two boys gasped trying to catch their breaths; of course Teo was trying to breathe since he was completely caught off guard and suddenly being thrown into the air and dropped into a field.

"You okay Teo?" the Avatar huffed as he closed his staff, before turning to face his handicapped friend.

Teo shrugged, "I don't know, but I was certainly caught off guard." He paused and looked around, "Where are we?"

Aang looked around as well before rubbing the back of his head, and shot Teo a cheesy smile, "In the middle of the forest?"

"This isn't a forest."

"Okay then a field."

Teo just raised an eyebrow before the two of them suddenly started having a laughing fit.

"No really." Teo said suddenly, who stopped laughing almost too quickly , that'd make someone think he was never laughing in the first place, "I'm not sure if it's just me, but I find it really hard to breathe here."

"To breathe?" Aang took a deep breath before exhaling loudly.  
There was a silence pause before the Avatar answered, "Nope I'm fine." He leaned his head to the side expressing his confusion, "Is it because I'm an airbender?"

Teo shook his head, "I doubt so." He took a quick inhale, and exhaled shortly, "It's," he spoke more slowly this time, "really thick or something. It's like inhaling a gas or something…" he took a deep breath again, but Aang put his hand up and shook his head, "Don't waste your breath trying to describe it. You said enough to make it clear we need to get out of here." Aang looked at the ground briefly before asking, "Was it bothering you as soon as we landed on the island? Or is it only here?"

Teo frowned, "As soon as we landed here."

As if that was all Aang needed to hear, Teo found himself back into the air, only by the time they reached to the peak of the tree tops, they found themselves repelled by a great force back into the field again.

Aang managed to stop Teo from crashing, only to crash into the ground himself. Pushing himself off the ground Teo shot Aang a worried look, "What happened?"

Aang jumped over to Teo lightly and glared at the sky, "We were repelled or something." He then eyed the woods warily, "Looks like we're going to have to take the hard way, and fast."

* * *

Katara swore that the universe was trying to mess with her out of all people. She came up with a theory that they got sick of tormenting her brother, and so decided to mess with her life.

Oh hell why?

Why out of all people did she have to be suck with Zuko and Ryu!  
Why couldn't she have been stuck with Haru and Toph!

Oh and what's worse.  
They happened to run right into a pitch black cave.  
Leaving Zuko to be their guide.  
Just great! Everything's going to be just fine! With him as the leader, they'll surely get out in no time!

Oh and that's right! He got Ryu here, and they are probably having some sort of secret conversation or something! Why is that?  
Because those two are too damn quiet!

The firebender sneaked a glance over at the waterbender behind him. Ryu, beside him said nothing, nor was complaining about the nickname anymore.

Uncertain whether he should break the silence, he took a deep breath and finally decided to speak up, "Um, so…" he was terrible at creating conversations. So why was he trying to right now?  
He looked at his guardian, "Ryu," he said carefully, not wanting to accidentally call the dragon by his infamous nickname, "you have told us that there was something about the island that makes it dangerous."

Ryu shifted his lizard like eyes to his master, '_Are you asking if those people are responsible for killing those who take up the challenge or something?'_

Zuko shrugged, "I don't now, all I noticed was that there were at least three different benders." He glanced back at Katara over his shoulder who had stopped walking, and was a good distance away from them. The firebender pivoted and waved at the waterbender, "Um, Katara?"

The water tribe girl didn't answer the first time, so he walked up to her and waved his flame across her face, which had certainly snapped her out of daze.  
But at the same time, making her angry.  
More like _furious _actually.

**SLAP**

"What the hell were you thinking? Waving a flame right in front of my face! It's like you're about to burn my face you idiot!" she shouted angrily as she lowered her hand and stormed past him, not bothering to apologize about the slap.

'_That was one hell of a slap.'_Murmured Ryu eyeing the red hand mark on the ex prince's cheek just below his scar.

Zuko glared at him, saying nothing and just followed Katara in a constant pace, in no hurry to rush after her.

'_Not going to go after her?'_

Zuko shrugged his shoulders_, 'Not really. She'd probably run off anyways.'_

Ryu snickered, _'So much of a gentleman.'_

'_I'm not a lady's man.'_

'_Oh really?' _

'_I'm pretty confident about that.'_ The ex prince said shortly.

There was a loud silence between the servant and the master.

'_Regarding those people..._' Ryu began. His serious tone caught Zuko's attention almost immediately; '_If I remember correctly…'_ he paused, then continued, '_supposedly there's a secret society on this island.'_

Zuko frowned, furrowing his eyebrows, _'What kind of secret society?'_

Ryu looked up then back down again, '_Well supposedly this society has existed over a thousand years._'

'_Do you know what this society is called?'_

Ryu looked at him apologetically, _'Unfortunately that I can't remember.'_

* * *

Katara was furious.  
But at the same time, very confused.

'_What was that?_' she stopped walking and found herself surrounded by darkness, '_I swore I saw something, something all too familiar…_' she looked around again, '_I swore I saw somebody._'

She took another step, then quickly jumped back as she felt the ground beneath her feet start trembling. A sign that it was going to give away.

Surely just did as she backed up, she heard rocks fall down, deep down – and it was at least 30 seconds before she heard the rocks make contact to the ground below wherever she stood.

In other words, there was a huge death pi t right before her.  
And now she can't see which direction she came from and can't find her way back to Zuko.

"Great." She huffed and placed her hands on her hips, "I can't believe I'm actually forced to wait for _the almighty anti-prince charming_."

"Right, Anti-Prince Charming. That's totally my character."

The waterbender jumped, startled that she was unable – no, was too deep within her own thoughts to hear Zuko approach her from behind. She eyed the flame, watching it dance on his palm calmly.

"Sorry about earlier." He said suddenly, almost as a mutter. She almost didn't catch it.  
He made the flame grow bigger and held it above his head to make the area a bit brighter, he studied their surroundings and took note of the pit, "You were kind of out of it, so I did the fast method." Usually people wouldn't have been able to help themselves but smile slightly; however Zuko's lips did not budge once, "I really don't like doing that to people."

"Figured as much." Katara muttered back as they took a better look into the pit and added, "It's pretty deep."

"A death pit. There's probably skeletons down there." He said shortly as he turned away and headed down the narrow path. Katara shuddered, "I can somewhat see that as a fact."

* * *

"Hey Aang, what's the matter?" asked Teo as he was studying Aang's sudden defensive reaction, his eyes darting in every possible corner. He decided to ask again, "Aang, what's th-,"

"Teo." the avatar's tone of voice sent imeadite chills down the teenager's spine, "Whatever you do, do not express any sort of emotion."

"Wait, what? Why is-," he stopped when the Avatar's expression was emotionless, his tone was cold, oh so cold that it scared him, "Just listen to me and do exactly what I'm doing until I say it's safe."

Teo put on his emotionless face, but somewhere in the back of his head where he wanted to laugh knew in someway this was serious and was no joke.

'_My, my I didn't think you could sense me coming Avatar.'_ A voice slurred, making Aang turn around slowly and face the spirit that everyone was warned about.

'_Why won't you smile? Isn't this supposed to be a happy reunion?'_

Indeed it was no other infamous spirit, other than Koh: the Face Stealer himself.  
**  
To be Continued…**

* * *

**A/N: *THIS NOTE IS LIKE FROM LIKE, FOUR YEARS AGO:**  
Oh. My. GOD! Well I actually MANAGED to find some SORT of INSPIRATION, and it makes me wonder if it's all due to the boredom I'm facing this summer! xD Anyways, well I suddenly noticed how the number of subscribers increased and the story going in favs, and…

Well, I suppose I'll try and wrap this story up.  
Oh yeah: I also found that freaking brainstorm sheet that I've lost, which will (should) help me complete this story.

**About the Chapter:**

Mwhahaha, Koh is back! – I seriously really wanted to bring him back, just to I don't know…I just wanted to I guess (lmao)

Nickname for Ryu? – You know, that was REALLY hard to come up with (COUGHFOURYEARSCOUGH) I mean seriously, I'm not the kind of person who nicknames people unless it's for memorizing insane stuff like historical people.

What happened to Azula? - Fu fu fu, I actually can't wait to write up what's going to come up next.

**July 10th 2011 Note:**

Thank you very much for the patience and for those who have been reading it and reviewing it this year. I'll try my very best to get it complete. I know I abandoned this project for four years now, and looking back at it, I would really like to finish this somehow.  
But please note I am _really, really, really_ busy right now, since I'm blogging full time (_although I'm actually not covering that many shows this season_) and will have other life matters being pre-occupied with.


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